Another
by Asuka K
Summary: It all started since the battle with Naraku came to an end, humans and a certain hanyou and some youkai thought 'finally'. However, new but not really new fiends arise. It appeared that whenever they forgot about what era they were living in, life has a funny way to remind them yet again. And this time, seemed they might be unable to get out of it unscratched.
1. Prologue

She couldn't remember in all her life had she been moving so fast, but all her beings kept screaming at her, this is not fast enough, she is not fast enough, to reach _him_. The landscape surrounding her was all blurry even to one of her own kind. She could smell in the air something salty was leaking out from her eyes but she paid no mind. There is no time…

_Tougaou…_

* * *

Fire.

This was all he could see.

One movement from behind alerted him, but he needed not to turn his back. Setsuna no Takemaru. This man was going to pay. Had it not been Tenseiga, he would have lost both Izayoi and Inuyasha.

_Inuyasha…_

Unsheathing the sword on his back, he gave an indignity snort in his mind, never thought one day this sword would be so much needed in his life. He would not let this man's soul rest in peace. He would not let this man's soul pass the gate to the next world. This man was going to suffer, even after death.

Soun'ga would make sure of it.

He could feel the pull of the underworld's power radiating from Soun'ga trying to invade his mind. But even in the weakest state of his life, possibly now, the mind game between him and it was still ended up with him as the winner. The ancient black dragon's soul sealed deep inside the sword kept screeching in rage. There was nothing it could do but to obey his command.

_Kokuryuha._

Goodbye, human. You will never reach her again.

_Izayoi. Live. Live and be happy, together with Inuyasha._

White. Was the last thing he could see before everything turned black.

* * *

"… Touga…"

What is it?

"Tougaou…"

Who's there?

"Tougaou."

Who are…

He knew that voice. No, more than knew. But his mind was in too much chaos to even start focus on gaining back consciousness. He knew he must. But Gods helped him, he felt like hell, his eyelids had never been so heavy, breathing had never been this hard. Had whoever been calling out for him was covering his eyes and choking his windpipe?

"Tougaou."

"I can hear you."

"So your ears are still usable after all.", was that amusement he heard in her tone? More important why was she here?

"Have you come to witness my last breath?", he asked her nonchalantly.

"More or less.", she replied.

Silent fell upon them. He was still relying on his demonic healing to work its magic, and it was failing. But he needed it in anyway possible. Even just for a bit more moments… His left hand moved to the swords were resting at his side, one small tug he had them free from his sash and held them in front of her.

"Take Tenseiga and make me a grave in the final resting place. Then…"

He tried and failed to inhale a deeper breath. One as his own would never choked in his words, even he was dying.

"Give it to Sesshoumaru."

He saw the corner of her mouth twitched. If it had been any other day, he would have barked a laughter at her current expression, now, he was just too tired. His entire body was failing him. Darkness was covering his vision. He blinked.

"And Tetsusaiga... Keep Tetsusaiga sealed with my remaining until the day it is awaken."

Another hard intake of breath.

"And give the black pearl to Inuyasha. But keep it a secret from h-"

"_Inuyasha_.", she cut him off abruptly, rolled the name on her tongue, "Was that a bit to girly of a name for a boy?"

"A... _boy_?", he asked incredibly.

"Yes, my dearest one. Your _ningen_ mistress gave birth to a _hanyou_ boy. Certainly you were not near dead enough to be unable to sniff his gender out?". If when she spoke those two words with venom and hatred in it, it never showed. And he was in too much tiredness to even try to dwell in another pointless argument with her. Not anymore.

But he did choke out a laughter.

He looked at her, more closely to see her face. She was sitting on her knees in front of him, mindless of the dirtiness of the after battlefield surrounding them. Despite all that, she was as beautiful as he could remember. She was sitting there, staring at him, showing not whatever feelings she was feeling, he knew she could feel, by the intense burning on his left shoulder. The aching heat from it maybe was what keeping him from falling even deeper into his coming abyss.

He smiled at her. Let this imagine of her was burn deep into his mind. _His mate_.

While closing his eyes.

"I'm glad I left the Meidoseki with you."

Had he still kept his eyes open he would have seen her eyes widened at his smile, and a bit wider at next his words. Her hand grabbed on the hilt of Tenseiga harden. Her eyes focused on his dying body, his torn lung, his dimming amber eyes. He was failing. He was leaving.

She felt the pulse from Tenseiga.

She saw the little beings of the afterlife started surrounding him.

They couldn't touch him as long he still drew breath, but it was just the matter of time before he lost it.

She was going to slay them all.

She would slay them all.

Her eyes narrowed on them.

"_Don't_."

His voice broke through her being as if someone had stabbed her from behind. Her eyes widen. But she would not sway. She would not show him how much betrayal she felt from just one word of his denial to this one life time chance to save himself. He decided to give it up.

"I'd like to be able to see them in the next world." _And you_.

He couldn't see anything anymore. Darkness had won and claimed him in its embrace. He could feel her there, but she was getting further from his reach.

His time was running out.

"If Sesshoumaru comes… use the Meidoseki… if something happened to him… don't be sad… or worry…"

She reached out to him. By the Gods... why the physical distance between them suddenly was so great she felt it took forever just to touch him. The coldness in the smooth surface of his cheek leeching to her warm. He opened his eyes, which spoke so many things, contrary to her own, yet the brightness of them had already lost. She lower her head, brought her lips ghostly above his.

"My own."

The last contact they had shared marked his last breath in the living world.

The Inu no Taisho had passed away.

* * *

He knew, from the moment his father turned his back to him to run to the human's side, he'd lost him, forever. Why? Had his mother not enough? Had he, Sesshoumaru, heir of the Western lands, not enough? Why had his father chosen another? Why had he pupped her? And ended his life saving them.

He heard her agonizing howl somewhere deep within his head.

Mother. Why have you come?

Their mating was incompleted. She would not die together with his father. Yet, why did her howl tear his soul apart as it hers?

He felt something, something he had never felt since he was just a pup. He wanted to come to her. But he quickly dismissed it. He had not been made for comfort. He was the perfect killing machine. That was what he was and the sole purpose of his birth.

From here on, he was the new Lord of the Western lands.

"Chichiue..."

He turned his vision to the sky, which was already at dawn, a blood red dawn he'd ever seen. Whirlwinds surrounding him. He felt his youki raising within him. His eyes bled red as his golden pupils turned blue. The smoothly youkai marking stripes all over his body turned jagged. He shifted to his true form. Paws digging to the earth beneath, a rumble tore from his chest, he released an earth shaking howl to the heaven. As if it was the very reason he lost his father. As if it was the very reason his mother was in so much distress. As if it was the very reason for all the feelings running chaos within him. As if it was the only thing would give him the answer for everything yet nothing.

He loathed the woman whom his father had left his mother for.

He loathed her hanyou offspring whose blood had soiled his royal bloodline.

The child would die. By the hatred of humans who thought it was the oni no ko. By the disgusted of youkai who thought it was a filthy being for having human blood.

And if it managed to live through, he, Sesshoumaru, would take mercy on that pathetic being and end its life for its own sake.

* * *

_It_ was stirring.

That much it could tell from the darkness surrounding them. But why? _That being_ had been in deep slumber for as long as it could remember. It had made sure _it_ would be too weak to even as much lift a finger.

_It_ was waking.

How?

So many unanswered questions were roaming about its head. _That being_ could not be awaken. _It_ was not supposed to. Had it miscalculated? That was not possible… unless…

It looked up just to have its expected unexpected thing unfold right before its eyes.

Blood red eyes bored into its soul.

But this was a surprise. This was not the expected blood red eyes in its memory. This… what was this…

_It_ was a scared eyes.

_It_ was a clueless eyes.

_It_ was what an infant supposed to be eyes.

It felt something bubbled up within its own being.

A ruthless sound erupted through the darkness. It happened so fast it could not identify what was that sound at first, and then it felt it, its own muzzle were stretching, and the sound kept escaping from the hollow of its throat.

It was laughing.

At the being in front of it.

At the fearful look said being was giving it.

At the attempt to pull at the shackles around all its pitiful paws of said being to get away from it.

Finally.

Finally the time has come.

"Yo, little one."

Such awful voice. It mentally winced. Probably from being unused for so long.

It heard a whimper from _that being_ as it tried scooting further from its cage. The shackles moved heavily around it. Surely those things were too big for such a small thing to carry around, couldn't that thing even realize it was not even move an inch from where it was and only writhing in the same place still now?

Oh well…

_It_ would grow given time.

It was a very patient being. It had been waiting for this time to come since forever. Now, just a bit more.

Yes, _time_.

Until then, it would very much enjoy breaking this thing for all its worth.

Yes, this would be a very interesting waiting.

That same sound broke through darkness again, with more intensify than the previous one, and seemingly surrounding the tiny being in the middle of endless shackles glued into its body. Its small whimpers were swallowed by that deafen sound.

_It_ inquired…

_Why?..._

* * *

**Disclaimer**

Inuyasha (C) Rumiko Takahashi

* * *

**Author's Note**

Greetings to all who have read my first attempt at fanfiction.

Firstly I would like to thank you all for reading this story. Honestly I enjoy writing stuff, but sometimes it's just so hard to convert what you thought into words. I had tried many times to correct this first chapter but in the end, it came close to my liking this way, because I couldn't think of another way to put the flow of this story. So, this chapter was the result of my youngster writing style.

The second thing I would like to address is... I am very bad at English (my score in English class was not high at all), so if you happened to spot some misspellings or grammars, please bear with me. -.-"

Third thing, is about this story. As this chapter title gave away, it's a prologue, yes. This was not really a beginning at all, with some certain parts you may find very familiar from Inuyasha Movie 3 with some twisted details from the original manga. To tell the truth, there was something in the manga/anime I don't like at all, and it's part of the reason why I crafted this fanfiction (together with abit of my guilty pleasure may or may not be writen in later chapters).

And last but not really last thing is, the story rating. I would like to keep it at T for now, because you see, so far there was nothing to be caution about... yet. I will change it at the later time if things happen to go out of hands, and some of us may hope or hope not, for it to happen.

Thank you for bearing with my ranting.

'Till next time.

Asuka K.


	2. Those were left behind

**Disclaimer**

Inuyasha (c) Rumiko Takahashi

* * *

**Chapter 1**

* * *

It was just another normal day. She decided to roam her palace along the eastern borderline of the lands. A report about some low class rogue youkai disturbing around this area had arrived earlier that day, and on a whim she'd come to see into it herself instead of just dispatching some solders to finish what needed to be done. And here she was, sitting on her throne inside her sky palace looking down on the greenery landscape with her almost never changed expression that showed exactly what she felt at the moment, _boring_. Where were those misbehave youkai? Raising from her place, walking gracefully down the endless stairway, she gathered youki around her feet, and less than half a blink later she disappeared from her palace, left behind where she had stood a fading mist of pink aura.

The full odor of trees, of earth, of wild lives hit her nostril in a nostalgic way. When was the last time she had been this close with nature? No amount of castle walls or armies could give a noble youkai of their standing the safe assurance as nature did. It was the truest meaning of safe. That kind of safe from the watching eyes of their enemies. That kind of safe from any scheming of those traitorous youkai council whom were waiting for the last remainings of their royal bloodline death so they could have things as they wanted. Youkai had not the need like a human hiding behind a strong defensive wall made of flesh or hard rocks and wood to protect their own life. A noble youkai would face the danger head on so they could eliminate all the threats attempted on their life or die in an honorable manner while protecting their objects. But that, did not mean she hate _her_ castle, far from it.

She frowned as her footsteps brought her deeper into the forest. Something smelt familiar. Hiding her curiosity to no one in particular and let her sense lead her to the source of the current object holding her fascination, which was an old tree. Not so old as a certain demon tree she knew, though, she mentally noted.

Running her hand along the bark, her motion stopped as her lethal claws brushed over a small hole in the middle of the tree trunk. The rough skin of wood surrounding this hole somehow was refusing to fill this 'wound' as the other areas, which was already in a lighter shade of dark brown than the rest.

It took a while to get her buried memories resurfaced. And when it did, her eyes narrowed to slits. This was the scent of that small life _he_ had died for. So the child somehow got himself pinned into this tree. Somewhere in the back of her mind registered this small information was known and forgotten, about more than five decades ago, thanked to an ill-fated youkai messenger of their clan who had nothing better to do than reported _this_ to her and she'd dismissed that tiny life by a flick of her wrist. Ah, so that was the reason she'd noted to herself never used anything other than sheer force when within the castle walls, the goo took almost three days to be cleaned, and stank for a week. Such an unpleasant experience.

By the lingering scent of the child on the tree, it seemed not long ago he was freed from whatever pinned him here. And his more recent scent glued to one particular branch higher up. She looked at that one spot in faked amusement, Inuhanyou he might was, but the way he loved to be on a branch at such height, one could mistake him for a nekohanyou. All in all, he did not seem to hate the very tree which practically screamed his own weakness and failure.

And something else, much fainter than that of the child. She moved closer to the spot which that scent was strongest, even though, it was so barely there she thought she was imagining it, for she never expected that, for what it was, to be here. Her lips twitched as to confirm her suspicion. _Interesting_.

"And I thought you would need another 150 years to visit me again. Your mother is very moved, Sesshoumaru.". She said in a sing-sang voice, not bothering to hide her amusement in this turn of event as she slowly turned to see her son.

Adding a dramatic sniff mid-turn, she brought her sleeve up to cover her nose as she threw Sesshoumaru an accusing look. "My, you are so stink.", she drawled, "What have you been doing? Playing in a hole with a bunch of tanuki?"

His eyes narrowed at her. "Mother."

She had noticed _that_ arm _and_ new sword resting on his side together with Tenseiga the moment she took a glimpse at him, and instantly she knew what it was. She couldn't help it as her heart bursted with pride, although on outer she didn't show anything she was feeling and just went on with her usual taunting, knowing full well how he hated it. Oh for his father's sake, this pup of her had no sense of humor at all. Such an uncharmingly one…

"How do you feel, Sesshoumaru?", she asked, her hands cradled the Meidouseki as one of her thump gave a feather touch on the smooth surface of the stone. "Your little brother, Inuyasha, seemed to disappear inside the meidou. And he might never come back, this time."

His outer composure never changed as he stood there facing her. She met his stare with equally intenseness. The silent fell upon them was deafen as the calm before storm.

* * *

When the stolen Meidou Zangetsuha swallowed the miko, he'd just been a little surprise. So that damnable spider-hanyou had made a wish to the shikon no tama and somehow it involved Kagome, and why the Meidou Zangetsuha played any part in this? He had a little time to think before the brash hanyou of a little brother of his jumped high to the air and opened another meidou with his own Meidou Zangetsuha after a loud bark and lunged himself into the abyss, to find the miko, no doubt. He mentally sighed, irritated, annoyed, and another something he did not know what bubbled inside him. That fool didn't even think of the consequence if he couldn't find a way out when he got to her, had he found her at all. Last time it was Tenseiga's light. But this time there was nothing, he could think of, to bring the hanyou back in the living world. And why was he feeling… disturbed at the thought of Inuyasha may never return?

Whatever the hanyou did was not his concern. Inuyasha could go and die inside the meidou for all he cared. That what he always wanted, alright, for Inuyasha, the tainted of their bloodline, to cease his pitiful existence…

He closed his eyes.

What he wanted…

What he wanted…

He _wanted_…

His eyes snapped open. He felt her. In the forest of Inuyasha. He turned abruptly and started walking in her direction. He had not even made another step before Rin called out, "Sesshoumaru-sama?", that, in turn, got the humans and other youkai attention and they all looked at his back in expectant.

"Rin.", he addressed her, "Go back to the village."

"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama.", the little girl obeyed his order as usual without any inquiring.

Kohaku took his silent order as he looked at Sango uncertainly but she nodded her head in an assuring gesture. With that, he gave a slightly tug on the two-heads dragon's rein, and headed to the old miko Kaede's hut with Rin securely sat on the sadle in his front, Shippo on his right shoulder and Jaken clinging into whatever place he could grab on the dragon, which ended up being the tail.

When Sesshoumaru had made sure Rin was safe, for now, as all the potential threats were already taken care of or no longer in this world. And as long the little girl was out of sight, he would be spared from chasing after another hellhound if that she-devil decided to be funny, again. He would not risk having Rin in her present, and kami knew what kind of thing she conjured up this time just to piss him off. By now Rin was well taken care of, Sesshoumaru resumed his previous disrupted movement.

And that, too, got disrupted, again.

"Sesshoumaru—", Sango called but got cut off as he threw her a glare over his shoulder which clearly said 'be silent'. Though, she would not sway, "Inuyasha is—"

"This Sesshoumaru,", he said harshly, "has no concern about that filthy half-breed."

And he was gone before the human eyes could even blink.

"He is your only brother! Sesshoumaru!", she screamed after him as she dropped on her knees, a sob escaped her lips, another, and another, and tears follows soon after. Miroku place one hand on her shoulder as the other one, now freed from the deadly curse of Kazaana guided her to the crook of his neck, offered her whatever comfort he could at this moment as he, too, was suffering the same. How they had been fighting together but now all they could do was sitting here, believing in Inuyasha and Kagome and waiting for their return.

* * *

She was at the Goshinboku tree when he arrived. Apparently something in that old tree caught her attention and she took her time marveling the spot where Inuyasha had been pinned on for the last 50 years. His eyes narrowed when she stopped as he waited patiently for her acknowledgement.

"And I thought you would need another 150 years to visit me again. Your mother is very moved, Sesshoumaru.", she said as she turned toward him. His childhood with her had taught him a lesson when dealing with her, and he'd made it his habit, to ignore all her remarks whenever she made any comment about whatever it was regarding him.

It was not because ignoring her would make her shut up. It was because there was no other option for him or anyone else whenever it came to her dramatic reactions had she found something, or someone, to ease her boredom.

His eyes narrowed more as she threw him that ridiculous look. "My, you are so stink. What have you been doing? Playing in a hole with a bunch of tanuki?"

"Mother.", he greeted her, all the while trying his damnedest to not draw Bakusaiga and ran the sword through her head. That, would have to wait for another time, he had more urgent matter this day that was in needed to be done now.

She placed that boring expression on her face again as she started petting the Meidouseki, apparently no longer in the mood to have whatever she thought was a sentimental mother son reunion. He mentally snorted at the notion. And her voice ran through what distance between them, hit straight to his true reason of turning away from the humans earlier. "How do you feel, Sesshoumaru? Your little brother, Inuyasha, seemed to disappear inside the meidou. And he might never come back, this time."

_Tell me something I don't know._

He looked at her hard as his eyes betrayed nothing he felt at the moment. He knew why he wanted to seek her. And the reason behind it annoyed him to no end.

"Mother, why are you here?", he asked her, instead.

* * *

"Mother, why are you here?"

She frowned. His outer was perfectly calm, but she knew it better. He was so tense, and looked as if he would turn into his demonic form and maim everything he saw at any moment, and very soon. Surely she could smell that human girl of his was out of harm way, staying somewhere in the human village nearby. Then what ailed her son this time?

"The Meidouseki was restless.", she started. "Since the time there was something of not capable of opening a meidou, opened it.". She looked at her son silently demanded an explanation.

He averted his eyes from her, looked up at the old tree, then closed his eyes and inhaled a deep breath. "An abomination of a damnable hanyou stole a small notion of the Meidou Zangetsuha's youki and cut that miko of Inuyasha with it. When that problematic hanyou was destroyed, the girl was thrown into the meidou.". If he had it in his person to roll his eyes, she'd sure he would, with the way his tone turned slightly sarcastic as he mentioned about this miko girl was all very close to that kind of ignoble action.

Oh, she couldn't help it. She couldn't at all. "Inuyasha.", she sniffed, "Oh, such a long time since I have heard the name of my nephew. I was _almost_ convinced his name was _disgusting_ _filthy half-breed_ by all, even my own son."

"Mother.", he warned with a low growl as his hand twitched. She was pushing him. He knew it alright. And Tenseiga only brought back a lost life once. So that meant he could not just kill her right here and now and revived her to do the same all over again while expecting her to save the wasting time by getting on with whatever she was stalling by not telling him.

She sent him a side glance silently daring him to overstep his position. This son of her may gained more power in such a short period but that did not mean he could go ahead a think he was above all. Ah, she could see another reprimand session with him after this was in order as her eyes narrowed. "What else did you fail to mention?"

"I believed the shikon no tama was unharmed with the dead of that hanyou and now, being in wherever the miko is.", he hisses through his fangs, his hands clenched to fists. How he hated to admit the fact that Bakusaiga was unable to even scratch that accused little thing.

"The Shikon no tama.", she paused. During her ignorant years of the outside world, that one thing had not failed to reach her ears. One thing that was able to grant any wish, be it the wish of human, youkai, or _hanyou_. One thing was desired by _almost all_ living beings. And yet, no answer for what was the purpose of such existence. Nothing was born in the living world just for the convenience of others without consequence.

"There is nothing to do here, now, Sesshoumaru.". She told him. Her tone left nothing for discussing, but left an opening for questioning, something she rarely did.

And questioned her he did. "Can you not open a meidou with the Meidouseki, Mother?"

"No.", she replied, "The Meidouseki refused to do anything."

"What do you mean by that?", his eyes narrowed at the black stone in her hands. Its twinkle lights never ceased swirling under the obsidian surface like the perpetual falling stars on the night sky.

"That, my son, means it's the will of the Meidouseki for no interference in whatever is happening or about to happen in the meidou.". She deadpanned.

His eyes widened at her words. He did not know what to think about this revelation, he had not come to her just to know it was a waste of time. Unknown anger was raising deep inside him as his eyes bled, he saw red. His body rigid as demonic aura gathering around him prepared for the upcoming transformation was about to take place. But her next words forced the process to stop abruptly as his body gave a jerk pulse signaling he was regaining his control over the inner youkai that was trying to take control over him.

"He is your father's son,", she said quietly, "too."

He looked at her in bewilderment as his eyes blinked back into the usual golden color. Had he heard her right? What in the devil had possessed this mother of his for her to be able to say such fact in this uncharacteristic manner?

"Don't look at me like that!", she snapped realized what she just said and how it sounded and that look on his face. "Unlike you, I am pretty straight forward about what I feel."

"I know, you just don't like to show it. I got this attitude from you, after all.", he calmly replied her, with the edge of smugness in it. It was not any day he could get her hackles raise, after all.

"Oh, not only his father blamed me for the resemblance looking, now his son blamed me for rubbing it off on him, too. What did I do to deserve this?", she sniffed dramatically again as her voice was on the verge of tear, as she brought one of her sleeve to cover her twitching lips.

Sesshoumaru inhaled and exhaled slowly, tried as he may to keep his anger and annoyance in check. Suddenly he did not feel sorry for her at all about the thought of his father left for the human woman. One must be all fool, deaf, and mute to be able to deal with this mother of his without losing their own sanity. And as if she'd read his thought, for her next words succeeded in silent him for any smart come back he was about to throw at her.

"Your father lost his life defending his human woman and their child.", he stared at her, where was she going with this? "His first born all fretted up and chased after a hellhound for a human child.", and tensed at this statement, "His second born threw his life away for a human girl to kami knew where in the pit of hell.", and the hatred did not go unnoticed to him as she purposely left it at that.

She looked at the sky. Her expression was already back to what people usually saw, if it was considered an expression at all, the kind of devoiding any feeling she had expression. "Really,", she walked away from him, "what it was with all the men in this household ended up the same way one after another.", and gone with that last remark.

Sesshoumaru was left standing alone facing the ancient holy tree. The last rays of dawn hit his eyes as he glanced at the horizon, noticed, for the first time in this day, how the sky was dyed in an all too familiar blood red color as that one time so long ago before darkness came and sucked every remaining lights into its greedy maws. And yet, even the night had come, surrounding him was the miraculous unseen lights with a foreign warmness that left him with a touch of loneliness in its wake.

Before he knew it, his thump was gently brushing against the same tiny hole in the Goshinboku tree trunk. All those years ago he'd come here, but his poison could not melt the sealing arrow which pierced through Inuyasha's heart. Though the boy had that peaceful expression when he was as good as dead back then, it was endearing in its own way, but it did not sit well with Sesshoumaru himself. He did not know what. And he did not know why.

But he had waited.

And 50 years later his patient was paid. The hanyou was awaken. But things did not go as he wanted.

His hatred arose a new.

His feelings took a ridiculous turn somewhere along the way.

And now he was left with a hollow inside, with no knowledge as to how to fill it.

Little did he know, the only way to right his heart came in the form of a red clad being with the twitching koinu ears and a brash behavior.

All was about to start, three days from now.


	3. And he came back

**Disclaimer**

Inuyasha (c) Rumiko Takahashi

* * *

**Author's Note**

I haven't proof read this chapter yet despite several times editing. So spelling and grammars maybe still hiding somewhere. If you happened to see any, please bear with me.

I may or may not re-edit this chapter later, but everything was as the way I would like it to go in this chapter. So further editing maybe just to correct some spelling and grammars mistake from my part.

On side note, I've changed this fanfic's rating to M due to the content of this chapter.

* * *

**Warning**

Character death, blood, brutally (personally I didn't think it was, but... oh well), swearing (I am learning how to swear in English, if you find it hilarious I guess you can blame me, but it may not gonna change anything)

* * *

**Chapter 2**

* * *

The hanyou had not thought much about what was going to happen upon his return. True that he'd expected many things along the way, mainly his remaining pack members' questions. Something like, what had happened? Where was Kagome? What's about Naraku and the Shikon no tama? Why had he come back alone? And so on. But he had felt very tired as the darkness surrounding him retreated, by the time he looked up to the all too familiar sky of his era, undoubtly Miroku and Sango and Shippo scents hit his nose first. He knew they had been worried, and deserved to know about everything, but he was not ready to answer anything, for now. So the second he jumped out of the Bone Eater Well, he avoided their gazes and just told them a simple "Kagome's fine.". Well, it was the truth, after all. He walked toward the village, with the humans and fox kit, for once being silent from his place on the monk' shoulder, followed at a slower pace behind, heading to Kaede's hut.

The old priestess upon seeing the coming group, had not said anything. When they all took their seats inside her hut, she chanced a glance at the hanyou, then she just blinked slowly and she went about preparing tea for everyone.

Inuyasha's posture relaxed as the herbal smell slightly teased over his nostril, he watched the transparent white color mist escaped from the kettle, danced inside Kaede's hut, then dissolved into thin air, leaving only the fragrance behind.

"It has been three days since you and Kagome disappeared with the Well.", Kaede said.

He stayed silent, his eyes closed, hands crossed inside his sleeves, Tetsusaiga was hold in place by the fold of his elbow and leaned on his upper body. It seemed to him like an eternity had passed when he and Kagome were in the meidou, at the same time, it was just like a blink, and everything was truly over before he even knew it.

"Inuyasha."

He heard Kaede called. He opened his eyes in time to see her pushed a cup of tea in front of him. He watched the cup for a while but not showed any attempt to drink it right away. When she was about to pour the other cup for the rest, Miroku had stopped her and offered to do it himself. Kaede nodded as she took her seat across from Inuyasha.

The old miko watched him through her remaining eye, felt the sadness and something else, so foreign of a feeling for her to put a word into it, radiating from the hanyou ever since she sensed his present from outside the village, not along with the young reincarnation of her late sister, she had known. Kagome had fulfill her purpose in this era and returned to where she was, where she belonged. It never sobered them this much, that Kagome was not one of their time, despite the young girl had come back and forth between their era to hers many times through the well during their jewel shards gathering and Naraku's hunting, there would be the time when she was no longer able to do such, once everything was over. And this was it.

"Kagome had wished for the Shikon no tama to disappear forever.", Inuyasha said, for the second time to his group of friend and first time to the old miko since his return. When he was done, his eyes closed again.

All the humans knew better than asked the hanyou anything from this point. Inuyasha had not said in a voice demanding no further questions, but the finally in that statement was more than a request, and he would answer them nothing.

Inuyasha felt the unsettled aura from Miroku and Sango. Even with his eyes closed he could see the fox kit had ignored all his silent warnings, jumped out of Sango's lap to stand in front of him and took a deep breath, but the monk had acted fast as he reached his hands out and cover the young kitsune's mouth while dragging the struggling child back to Sango awaiting arms, effectively blocked all sound was about to come through it in the process. And the hanyou had felt so grateful about it at that moment. He was real tired, and he thought he may collapse at any time now. "I need to be alone…", he said at length as he stood up, "… for a while.", with that he walked out of Kaede's hut, after looking at Kaede's direction as she nodded in return. The old miko would keep the humans company for a while until he came back to them, or if the humans would like to do something else, without looking for the hanyou in that matter.

But the hanyou had not taken another step away from the hut before he stopped and looked around, then he sniffed the air several times. The humans looked at him in confusion. Kaede stood up and walked over to Inuyasha, "Go on, have some rest. Be sure to come back before tomorrow evening.", she said as she came next to him.

"Did Sesshoumaru and his _chibi_ collection stay here all the time?", he asked her as he inclined his head slightly in her direction. He sniffed again, "Or at least the girl."

Kaede gave him a look, "Young Rin will be staying under my custody from now, so she can return to human community. It's not good for a child running in the wild with a group of youkai."

Inuyasha snorted. "I was a child when I put my claws through a youkai's head, a bear youkai if you want specific, old lady.", he crossed his hands inside his sleeves and huffed.

Kaede rolled her eye as she turned and walked back to her hut. "Not every child had fangs and claws like you."

At the look on the hanyou's face after her statement, Miruko and Sango had to cover their mouth and turned their gaze away from him to stop themselves from laughing out loud and rolling on the floor like a certain fox kit. Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at them all, but it only last for two blinks, then he smiled slightly, "I will be back later.". And that familiar red and white blur shot away from the human village toward Inuyasha's Forest.

* * *

After agreeing with the sister of his brother's first miko that he would leave Rin here to get back to her life as a human child, he had all intentions to just leave, and maybe, just came back from time to time to visit the young girl. But, he had found himself walking the same path to the forest, and when he stopped, the same tree stood in front of him. For the first time in centuries of his life, he found himself unable to stop looking for one being. And for the first time in centuries of his life, he, Sesshoumaru, had admitted to himself, that he was regretting not to end the life of that hanyou sooner, when the hatred was still fresh.

For that very same hanyou was the very reason causing this uncharacteristic feelings within him.

He had no idea how long had he been sitting under the Goshinboku tree, with back leaned on the tree trunk, one knee folded up as his recently re-grown arm resting on it, the other knee loosely stretched out beside his right arm which slightly supported his weight on the ground, a habit he'd gotten himself during the period he was putting up with having one arm to do all the works, thanks to the same certain hanyou, again. His brow twisted, irritated raised to another level. His traitorous mind ran back to the god-knew-where hanyou, again. Oh he would do it this time, alright. No need for hatred driven, the imbecile was going to die because he, Sesshoumaru, was being ridiculous _with himself_. Yes, that would be reasonable enough. No one would dare to question why he killed a hanyou, they never did. No, they only encouraged it. He growled, disgusting parasites, why the bitch insisted on using them still now was out of his understanding. Surely she was so old to go looking for new replacements as she said two centuries ago? No, she was just too lazy to do the job herself. Another growl escaped the more irritated over time demon lord.

He felt a foreign weight dropped on his knee first, then a smooth touch on one side caressed his cheek came almost at the same time, and hot breath on another side teased his ear, then that voice belonged to only one person he'd been waiting, grudgingly admitted _desperately_, invaded his space, "Have you waited for me all this time, my arrogant big brother Sesshoumaru?"

He opened his eyes, narrowed view closed around the one being crouching on his lap. The fire-rat garment perfectly adorned Inuyasha as always, shielding almost all damage may fell upon the young hanyou. Puppy ears stood straight on his crown would twitch when he heard something, felt something, or there was times he just did it like a normal movement of exercising the nerves. Big brilliant amber eyes expressed everything like an open book looked up at him with a mischievous grin was forming on his lips. He let his left hand wandered through the silver stress of the hanyou, felt the way the silken hair ran between his fingers. The younger of the two sighed contently, now fully sat comfortably on the elder's lap and leaned his head on Sesshoumaru's chest, let the steady heartbeat lured him into a lumber as his hands now idly petting his youkai half-brother's Mokomoko. The hanyou wondered if this white fur was the softest thing ever in existence.

Sesshoumaru, still looked down at the young one, smirked. His right hand left the ground and came to caress Inuyasha's chin before turned his head upward to get the hanyou looked back at him. "I've been waiting.", he started, "But I see I don't have to do it any longer."

Inuyasha smirked back as he leaned up until their noses were slightly touching each other, breathing in each other's air, warm big amber eyes bore into narrowed cold almost identical color, his arms came up and wounded around Sesshoumaru' shoulders as he inclined his head slightly to the side, "Why?", he asked.

"Because,", Sesshoumaru began, his left hand which had never left the younger's hair slowly move up along Inuyasha' spine caused a small shiver ran through the hanyou. "What I've been waiting is already _here_."

With that said the taiyoukai's left hand ran smoothly through the hanyou's back, to his still beating heart, then came out in front of his left chest, effectively put a short distance between them to bring into view the sight of his bloody hand together with his poison was seeping out from the tip of his claws between their upper bodies.

Blood choked out from Inuyasha's mouth to the front of Sesshoumaru's haori, some of the red fluid smeared the youkai's face as the hanyou's eyes widened at the unexpected attack. The hand on his chin kept his head in place as Inuyasha tried to tear his way out of Sesshoumaru's grap. The poison was eating the younger one from inside, mixed with the blood pulsed out from the battered heart and spreaded through his body, it would not be long before the hanyou turned into a puddle of goo beneath Sesshoumaru's feet.

The taiyoukai released his hold on the soon to die hanyou by jerking his arm, threw the younger one a few feet away from where he was sitting and gracefully stood up, all the while never let his gaze turned away from the red clad being, whom now unable to even move a finger from his place on the ground. Long silver hair dyed in his own blood all messy laying around him. Dimming half-lid amber eyes looked into nothing in particular. His lips slightly parted for soft gasps coming through as the blood filled lung was failing miserably to get air in.

"Once upon a time I had said this,", Sesshoumaru turned his head to the side, looked down at the hanyou, "Never turned your back to your enemy.", he continued, "To the one owned that face, that eyes, that hair, that everything which you had become.". His right hand came up to the side of his neck and ran through his hair, caused the trance flew along the forest breeze for a while before resumed its previous position perfectly as before. "Had you prepared yourself a better brain you would have known this Sesshoumaru will accept no replacement when it comes to _his_ hanyou of a younger brother."

"Haa… sa...id… the… moth...er… fuc...ker…", the dying hanyou drawled out, "nev...er… ac…cept…ed… bro…th…er…". He died.

Sesshoumaru sneered at the dead body, which already started its process of dissolving into the air in a greeny mist bit by bit. Finally looked away from it to turn his gaze on the direction of a familiar scent was coming his way.

"Sesshoumaru?"

The red and white blur stopped some distance away from him as Inuyasha looked at him in confusion. Sesshoumaru just stared back at the hanyou for a while before he turned and walked away.

Inuyasha called again. He did not stop. But he knew the hanyou was walking a few caustion steps behind him. The hanyou fell silent for a while, then, "Where are you going?"

The taiyoukai had expected the hanyou to ask him a bunch of questions from what had happened, what were you doing here, even why were you here, which highly very possible, knowing what a talkative the younger one were whenever he confused. However, where was he going, was not what he had expected the younger to ask first, but he decided to humor the hanyou anyway. "This Sesshoumaru will not walk around looking like he just killed a lowly youkai."

* * *

He had recognized Sesshoumaru' scent since the time he was about to jump out of the well, more like, that one particular scent was the very first he focused on searching before identifying the others in the air. But it was so faint the hanyou had thought maybe that was just the remaining of the youkai, from how long since he was here since the last time they'd all fought Naraku together before he left to wander to gods-knew-where again. Although with Naraku now had gone for good, he doubted he would have the chance to see his brother again, that was the case if the youkai had thrown away his idea of killing his hanyou ass. Had the hanyou known, several years from now on, said youkai would truly own his hanyou ass, not in all their previous encounter way, but in a _deeper_ way, he would have run for his life right at this moment.

Inuyasha had not slowed down his speed, if not adding more as Sesshoumaru' scent was getting stronger, along with something else, fainter and fainter, almost fading scent. And there he was, the white figure stood in the midst of woods, his head hold high, his shoulders straight, intimidating set of armor, ridiculous huge of his fur, narrowed cold amber gazed at him. This was the very Sesshoumaru himself, checked. But something was off.

In closer inspection, Sesshoumaru's face and the front of his haori were all in blood. Of course it was not of his brother's blood. His entire forest would have turned into ash had the great Sesshoumaru spilled a little bit of his precious blood in anywhere. He rolled his eyes at the thought. But as soon he realized where they were, in front of the Goshinboku tree, his brows furrowed in confusion. Why the hell Sesshoumaru was here? What was he doing here? Who was he just killed here judging by the fresh smell of the blood on his person and eeeewww, that poisonous smell of his Doukasou was all in the air. For fuck sake, this was his sacred place, his favorite tree, couldn't this son of a three plus one legs bitch find somewhere else to have his lunch? He mentally groaned.

And the bastard was staring at him as usual. Great, just great. Was he still deciding what kind of insult he would use this time?

"Sesshoumaru?", Inuyasha called, unnecessary gathered the taiyoukai's attention, whom was still staring intensely at him.

More staring. Did the bastard ever get tired of this?

The taiyoukai turned away from him and walked in another direction. That sudden movement of his brother struck something inside Inuyasha and the hanyou unconsciously let the youkai's name pass his lips again. Sesshoumaru still walked away.

_No_. He reached out, and caught himself before his legs started its own attempt at running to the youkai.

_Say something_. He urged himself. Anything to… to? To _what?_

"Where are you going?", he blurted. Oh great, his brother had said repeatedly that he was a fool, and he really felt like a fool now. Sesshoumaru would go anywhere he wanted and he would answer to no one. How his hanyou head could even thought of asking the taiyoukai and expected him to answer was now beyond him. By the gods, his legs were following after his brother! What the fuck was wrong with him? Why every-fucking-thing of his hanyou being suddenly decided to have their fucking own minds now?

He was dragged out of his mentally barking at himself when he heard the youkai's voice for the first time since they stared at each other in front of the sacred tree as the youkai unexpectedly said, "This Sesshoumaru will not walk around looking like he just killed a lowly youkai."

The hanyou blinked. Blinked. Blinked again. Blinked some more. Never realized he had stopped walking at the taiyoukai's answer, and just stared at his brother's back as his eyes turned even wider than sausages, his mouth agape. _No insult?_ Was the first thing ran through some small parts of his still not fully rational mind.

'You _just killed_ a youkai. And you _are_ walking around.', Inuyasha groaned in his mind.

And a small pebble hit him right on the middle of his forehead.

"Are you going to stand there and look as idiotic as a gapping fish?", he heard Sesshoumaru asked from far ahead. Did the bastard just throw a rock at him from where he was, with his back at him?

Without thinking, the hanyou broke into a run to the still walking taiyoukai, when he came to a several feet behind his brother he slowed down into a walk, all the while never realized he was unconsciously grinning from ear to ear. "You insulted me!"

The taiyoukai did not talk to him until they stopped at a spring after a good long walking. If the hanyou had walked beside the taiyoukai he would have seen the small change on his brother's seemingly stony face as the corner of Sesshoumaru's lips slightly went up. By the time Sesshoumaru inclined his head to look back at Inuyasha later on, his face was as usual as one would always see him.

* * *

**To be continued.**

* * *

Thank you for reading.


	4. The place where one tried to forget

**Disclaimer** (small rant: I wonder why I have to remind myself to do this everytime)

Inuyasha (c) Rumiko Takahashi

* * *

**Author's Note**

Uuumm well, it's my forth input for this story. I had a hard time to think about how to put words into this chapter, but I managed it. When I was done, during re-edit and spelling and grammar checking, I realized 'hell! Where is the talking?!'. Urg, writing is so hard. I've also developed a "writer emo" in the process. All in all, here is my screwed up newest chapter. *sob*

* * *

**Warning**

Nothing? Actually there will be a bit of angst, but I guess it can't hurt someone. And character death (I know, I am a bad person, geez!)

* * *

**Chapter 3**

* * *

There was nothing but darkness surrounded the two beings chained together by blood color chains and shackles. On closer inspection, only one of the two was chained by shackles on its legs and neck, this one was now laying its head on its folded forelegs, eyes closed, its long ears flicked whenever the red liquid dropped from the watery orb-like structure in front of its back to the imaginery darkness ground practically just around them. The red liquid would flow here and there and then got absorbed into the numourous chains. One would wonder if that was the reason how these chains were dyed in the very same red colour of said liquid.

A stir from the other forced its eyes open to chance a glane behind. The black long scaly body of the other being curved inside the red liquid orb, trying to break through the unseen barrirer with its massive body to no avail. The orb would stretch to accommodate to how much bigger its prisoner would turn into with all the struggling and at one point, that same orb would suddenly gave a pulse and constricted with a god like speed, uncountable times successful nearly sqeezed the being trapped inside.

The four legs being, played witness to the same result time after time, snorted, deep blue pupil in red sclera narrowed into slids as it started standing up on all four, disturbing the chains on its legs and neck as red liquid continuously flew down from the floating watery orb above into the binding chains. Now turned to fully face the other, it crounched low as all massive paws dug into red liquid covered standing ground.

A mighty roar pierced through darkness as demonic aura in the shape of red whirlwind surrounded the chained being as the seemingly perpetual rumbles kept coming out from its maw, blood red eyes shined like two fierced living torches in dark, long chains flying around the orb until the thing fully got all covered.

The roar stopped suddenly and replaced by a snarl, at the same time, the orb pulsed as all chains pierced through it, cut the being inside into pieces until all chains unable to go further and chained around one thing floated in the middle of the orb.

_Soun'ga._

Blood red eyes never left the sight of the sword, paid no attention to the regenerating flesh of the other being, now joined its body pieces together to regain its original figure. This, too, had happened time after time, so many that the two gave up counting.

As the other fully recovered body curled its long scaly being around Soun'ga, blocked all sight of the sword, the chained one turned its back on the orb, laid down on its forelegs again and closed its eyes.

Before the darkness surrounding them consumed over its consciousness, it saw a flash of white, magenta strips high cheekbone, and devilish smirking face.

Sighing in contentment, embraced the coming darkness, it let itself lost in the world of mind provided by the flash of red.

_Come to me, Inuyasha._

* * *

He didn't know how long they'd been walking. Meadows, forests, mountains, seas, seemed like forever to him, though in reality, he also awared that was only half a day time at most. Without the accompany of humans, they moved with demonic speed now, albeit at a leisure paces. No rest. Obviously, youkai and hanyou had more endurance than human, that was why he always complained about humans being weak whenever Kagome complained about being tired back when they were hunting Naraku and gathering the Shikon shards. His back felt so light without the weight of Kagome. He could almost feel her breath near his ears, her hands on his shoulders, her scent... _Kagome..._

He shook his head as his ears flattened against his head. Kagome was with her family now, safe and sound... and happy... in her own era, _without him_. Something stung in his eyes and he fought it back. There was no way in the seven hells he was going to bawl out hoping for her being back to him now. It was just not working that way. Also, he could not disregard her best interest at being in where she was supposed to be. She was never belong to the era he was walking on.

But it hurted like a bitch...

"Release your hands, Inuyasha."

Sesshoumaru's voice cut through his internal miserable line of thought and brought himself back to their surrounding. He looked up on time to see the very near back of his brother, _very near_ that with one more step and he would ram his head into Sesshoumaru. Now that was not something he would look into, not to mention all the spikes of that armor, and kami knew what kind of punishment would fall on his hanyou ass if the owner of that armor decided to have fun with him for daring to sully his all mighty person by touching him. Yuck. Well, looked at the mighty person himself all sprayed by blood of whatever thing before he came—

"Though, maybe that was a bit too late."

His brother said again in a statement like of speech. That was when he heard hissing and growling, and burning red eyes all around them from... He growled. Great, just great, they were surrounded. And he was not in the mood to fight anything now. He grithed his fangs and reached for Tetsusaiga, just as his hand contacted with the sword's hilt, pain shot through him and he winced. Removed his hand from Tetsusaiga to bring it into view, he frowed on his bloody palm, correction, his other hand was too, all bloody. And the cause of any wound on them was none other than his own claws. What the hell?

He did not realize when Sesshoumaru had turned to look at him. But he vaguely noticed his brother's eyes must be on his bloody hands for a while, then his gaze traveled up to his face, then those narrowed ambers stopped and stared straight into his eyes. For one small moment he thought he saw a flash of red on those all familiar cold narrow eyes, but it was so fast he thought maybe it was just his mind playing trick on him.

Before he knew what happened next, nothing but all flashing light green color all around, and then it was just him and his brother again, no hissing, no growling, no predatory red eyes, nothing else. Well, leave it to Sesshoumaru when it came to killing, quantity didn't matter at all, really.

Then suddenly Sesshoumaru was too close, too close that he could wrap his left arm around the hanyou waist and they airborned. Inuyasha eyes widened at the sudden contact, his heart was beating right on his ears. His thought all scattered like a broken mirror. And his eyes never left the older's.

It was like a moment of eternity until Sesshoumaru decided to break it, by a simple statement, "We're here."

Inuyasha blinked again. Now his brother was more than 10 miles away from him, and acted as if he had never holded a hanyou in his arm just some moment ago. "Where are w—", Inuyasha didn't have the chance to completely voice his question as he took in their surrounding, and he realized the question was no longer needed to ask. He knew this place, all too well.

But Sesshoumaru answered him anyway.

"This, was the first and last place I saw you before you let your heart fall in love with a human."

* * *

Blood.

He smelt blood.

Not the kind of blood that was still smearing his kimono. It was the very familiar scent of blood from his current only companion. Inuyasha's blood. He had smelt Inuyasha's blood numourous times until now, obviously, whenever they would be at each other's throat, more like whenever he felt like being at the other's throat, or whenever the hanyou got himself all bloody from his enemies, or recently, three days back... the day all their persue of Naraku came to an end.

And he couldn't help himself wanting to draw more of that scent with the way it so temped his being, now.

He thought back about the imposter, the one he'd run his left hand through its chest earlier, but kept himself steady away from the train of thought about why it had the appearance of Inuyasha in the first place, which he knew the reason all too well, but that was not something he wanted to give a consider at this moment. Their kind was the materialization of perfect illusion, and he found himself curious, about the limit of their perfection. He was dissappointed soon enough. In the end, imposter was imposter, and there was only one being walking in this living world had that scent of blood, and he would not be Sesshoumaru if he couldn't tell apart if it was Inuyasha's or not.

The hanyou would never be allowed to know how his very own hanyou's blood had so much effect in driving the older youkai's thirst into a frenzy level, that only by tasting the very same thing could ease it.

And he very awared that his control was slipping, by the reddening of his vision as the scent of Inuyasha's blood surrounding him, taunting him to just turn around, and the hanyou would be as good and proper handling to him with no interference of his human pack.

But the more rational mind of the demon was holding back, and it was doing a good job, by pointing out to that untamable raw instinc of his the reason as to why the hanyou was hurting himself. He knew, even before the hanyou showed himself in the forest, Inuyasha's aura was practically screaming 'miserable'. And the missing scent of the human miko was more than enough to be the reason for the hanyou's state of mind when he returned. Though, he noted, he hanyou did not appear to be mourning, that itself meaned the miko was not dead, yet, he grudgingly acknowledge this somewhat unpleasant information. So he could simply presume the miko was wherever the well ended up, somewhere with the disturbing scent of poluted air and numourous kind of chemical, and something else he could not point out for the strange kind of mixing scents emited from her person. One could not name what one did not have the knowledge of. In short, nothing about that particular miko ever stated that she belonged to the world he knew. And he was not interested in such world that had miko walking around exposed their legs for all to see. The ridiculous way of her attire had a way to annoy him to no end ever since the first time he saw her. But he summed it up to her, being human, and he disliked human, saved one.

The hanyou' scent of blood was getting thicker in the air. At this rate, even if the youkai successfully resfrained himself from pouncing on the hanyou, which he was beautifully doing well, other things in the area would. So, against his pleasure to fill his nostril with more scent of blood, he collected himself, though cleverly kept his back on the hanyou as he spoke for the first time since he'd lead the other away from that human village and his own forest.

"Release your hand, Inuyasha.", but he noted, by the gathering of whatever smart, or foolish enough to surround them, that he'd waste too long to warn the hanyou. Not that it did any different to the outcome. "Though, maybe that was a bit too late."

He heard the hanyou growled right behind his back. Momentarily tense by the closeness of their physical, albelt there was a bit of space separating them, but at this close and the hanyou's blood was still in the air, very thick. He did not know what possessed him to turn around and face to face with the hanyou, but it was a very big mistake he found himself too willingly to commit. Because it took all his being to resfrain himself from driving his fangs clean through the hanyou's throat to rescue his tongue from the burning starvation this torturous being was doing to him.

He eyed the hanyou's hands, which was the cause for everything that happened inside his being and invited the living things that had no controling over their thirst for blood in this area to them. Forced his eyes away from the fresh liquid still pouring out from the hanyou's hands, he let himself bath in the momentarily of pleasure to linger his vision on the joint of the hanyou shoulder and neck for a while, the point where he was so much in desire of just biting down and sucked all the hanyou's life essense off of him. A notion he noted to himself that he would do, _this time_, without fail, without interference. By the time his gaze locked with the hanyou's. Anger boiled up inside him. The hanyou had all the cautions when he stood facing the youkai in his forest. But as they went, somewhere along the way, the hanyou had dropped all his guard around the youkai, the very same youkai that could kill him at any moment if he was so desire his dead. Did the hanyou really think Sesshoumaru no longer want him dead? Or he thought Sesshoumaru was unable to kill him by now? Just because the youkai turned his back to him did not mean he was given the pleasure to look _somewhere else_.

The youkai vision turned red before he could rein control over his emotions, and he quickly hardened his thought, successfully hiding his feelings from the watching eyes of the outside world, created a distraction away from the hanyou, whom no doubt had more than enough time to notice whatever small change in his person, as his whip lashed out around them hitting every living beings except the hanyou, for this sole creature was the only thing he had his eyes fixed on.

_Inuyasha, what have you done to me._

The next thing he was awared of himself, that he'd had the hanyou by his waist as he brought them to the air and shot through the woods they were standing just a moment ago, to the only place he had in mind for so long, with long discarded memories, a futile attemp, and a broken promise.

"We're here."

He informed the hanyou once they landed on the ground. Immediately he released Inuyasha and put a safe distance between them. That, proved to be a pointless act, but it would provide himself, or the hanyou, enough time to act had the youkai really stooped so slow as to lose his control over himself.

Like the very sire of his own, centires ago.

He heard the hanyou started inquiring of their wherabout, but the question was never fully asked. So the hanyou did remember this place, after all. But the please sensation about this small piece of acknowledgement from the hanyou part did not strong enough to ease the unknown bitterness mixed with intense anger slowly raised up from deep within the taiyoukai.

"This, was the first and last place I saw you before you let your heart fall in love with a human."

* * *

150 years ago.

All residents in the village stood watching the castle was burning down into nothing. The old castle which housed the fallen princess, who sullied herself and her clan by giving birth to the demon's child. She, who had been resided in this castle ever since the death of the demon father of the bastard child, was feared, disgusted, hatred. Because she was still holding the power over them, her status as a princess remained unchange, until this day, when she stopped breathing.

An old woman stood leaning on her cane, supported by a young girl at her side, watched the burning castle as her eyes distant. "It was the same as 50 years ago...", her aged voice start. "Setsuna no Takemaru-sama had order to burn down the castle... where the princess was in labor... to end both her life and the child.", she stopped and coughed in her wrinked palm, the girl beside her rubbed her back in a soothing manner to lessen her pain. "But both the princess and the child were alive and well... enough to come here. None other had, except for those who was sent away right on the time the demon came for those two.". She looked up to the sky, "Setsuna no Takemaru-sama, this time there is no doubt both the princess and the child will die."

One of the middle man stood near snorted, "They are just an old woman and a child now. And no demon came to rescue them. No doubt it's the end for the princess and the demon's child."

The villagers started cheering around, finally they were dead. No more demon's woman and demon's child in their mist.

The sound of wood hit the the ground loud enough for everyone to stop their celebration and turned into one old man stood till, eyes locking on the hungry fire still devouring the castle as he started speaking in a comander tone. "Do not let your guard down. Even if it's a child, it's still not any normal, but a demon's child. Unless we see it corspe as good as a dead one then we can find our peace."

There was a uproar scorched from the crowd as the oldman finished talking. All men in the village started gathering farming tools, hunting weapons, anything they found that can kill a living being. It was until near evening in the same day that the fire retreated, leaving in its wake the ashes of what was left behind.

That was when the hunt began.

* * *

_Run._

_And don't look back._

That was the last thing she had told him. And he did just that. It never came into his mind how long he had been running, but everything screamed at him to run, away from the castle, the village, the humans. His being was numbed from the scratching of forest ground and sharp tree braches as he shot himself as fast as his small legs could do, he could not see what ahead for everything appeared to be all blur around him.

All the while blocking this voice kept telling him something in his head. But it was so fainted even if he strained to listen, he could not point out exactly what was it saying. Just an eerie sound that inflicted intense pain through his person and only by blocking it did he feel better.

"Mama..."

He whimpered. He felt something was very wrong with her today. She had hold him for a long while since yesterday as she sang him to sleep. And her lullaby was still continuing by the time he woke up. She petted his head, rubbed his ears in a way it felt so good, whispered to him how she loved him and how she was sorry. He had asked why her tears were falling out. She kept singing as she buried her face in his neck, until she was too tired to continue. She laid back and looked at him, her hold on him loosing. "I want you to live.", she said with a sad smile, "even without me."

"No, Mama. I don't want to live without you!", he whimpered. Unknown fear spiked his heart as something was stinging his eyes, seeing her like this, this was so wrong...

"My time is up... my dearest Inuyasha.", she petted his ears again, those appendages had flattened against his crown to block away anymore of her nonsense to make him live alone. No, he wanted her always with him!

"You are gonna abandon me?", he sobbed.

She looked at him with a pain emotion cleared in her eyes, tears kept flowing out, she used all what was left in her to pull him in for the last embrace she could offer, "I wish it never comes into this... forgive me.". A faint sound of commotion reached her failing ears as the smell of smoke hit her nostril. She could as well feel Inuyasha was tense in her arms. "Even if this body failed me, my soul will always be with you. Even it pained me to see you live through all this hardship, my eyes will always watch you. You will live, Inuyasha. Live and be happy.", she whispered through his silver tress. Knowing he could hear her very clear even if her voice sound so soft and faint.

"Mama? Mama?", fear kept raising in the small child as he called and tried to struggle out of her embrace. He needed to see her face, he needed to see her smile, he needed to hear her telling him that everything will be okay again.

Suddenly she released him. "Run. Inuyasha. Away from here. And don't look back."

"No! Mama! I want to be with you!", he cried. No, this was not happening to him!

He could not hear the familiar thumping sound from her chest.

He could not hear the air that was supposed to come in and out from her nose.

He could feel her skin was getting colder.

He could feel the heat in the air as fire surround them.

"MAMA!"

The fire raged in great anger as one red clad living escaped its grab as everything else was turned into ash.

_Mama love you, my dearest Inuyasha._

* * *

_Hear my voice, Inuyasha._

A faint eerie sound in the dark. Red eyes opened to look up into red liquid orb floating above its head.

_Abandon your humanity and hear my voice._

It called again as silent in darkness was the only answer returned.

_Inuyasha..._

* * *

**To be continued.**

* * *

**Author rant** (again)

Ok so. In this chapter I mentioned again what had happened in the last chapter. Mainly someone who looked like our favorite hanyou Inuyasha. I hope I will get the identity of this one in the next chapter. Though, I wonder if anyone who has been reading my story had already figured it out.

And a bit looking back at the past of Inuyasha when he lost his mother. This idea came to me when I was wondering about Inuyasha's upbringing. From what I read from both the manga and anime, the princess Izayoi (her name was not official given in the manga, but only in the Movie 3, she was called "Izayoi" by the Inu no Taisho when he came for her) had passed away when he was very small, the only scene readers/viewers ever saw them being together was when Inuyasha looked like 6 years old. It was quite impossible for a child, agreeing that he was NOT a normal human child (but half of himself is of human), and he had been living in a castle with his mother, got ignored, looked down upon, amongst humans, BUT he was never taught how to fight at that point. So if he was being alone all by himself, and had come into pretty strong by the time he first met Kikyo, there must be something 'helped' him along the way.

And yea, by that theory I worked this up *cry*

Anyway, thank you for reading. Until next time.

* * *

**Review reply**

Many thanks for mangafan and thewolf74 for your reviews. Your very first reviews encourage and give me more than enough motivation to continue this story. I hope you will keep enjoying the story (as I am).


	5. Die! Sesshoumaru!

**Disclaimer**

Inuyasha (c) Rumiko Takahashi

* * *

**Author's Note**

I am back with another chapter (yay me!). To tell the truth I have a hard time with this one, because all the fun will officially start here. I want to write about Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha, when placed in my story, lost as little of their original personality and behaviors as possible. I went about how they acted so out of character here and there, and this and that. All in all I was messing around with their lives, and my own head.

Then the fighting with swords, and stuffs...

Guess you all, my readers, may have to bear with me again for my lacking of skill in writing _again_. And I thank you for that.

* * *

**Warning**

Nothing that I can come up with about warning anyone about what (shrug), should I just settle it down to, "Be ware of dogs!", and "Don't try it on your sibling(s) at home."? Oh... well...

* * *

**Chapter 4**

* * *

Dwelling in the past was not something one at his station would do. But he was committing the act nonetheless as he searched himself for one reason that would be convincing enough to fool both the world and his rational mind.

He knew very well that he'd been lying to himself.

One lie could make a truth if belief overwhelmed what laid behind. To cover his actions' true meaning by deviating it as something else, something that others would think of as what he'd wanted them think it to be. And no one had ever question his actions, as none was foolish enough to risk their life in the process for inquiring. Had the dead hanyou known he'd been taunting the taiyoukai time after time by hitting the truth fair in its face thorough their encounters, would he still want to become a full youkai then. If Naraku had ever wanted to become a full youkai at all. For all that overstaying his welcome damnable hanyou ever did was using the Shikon no tama to create demon off springs, only until when he was chased into the corner in his last breath he'd fused himself with the jewel to momentarily obtain full youkai's potentials. Now that spider hanyou was no more, curiosity about it would do him no good, only good enough to be a distraction from his current object of problems. Inuyasha.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

He glanced over his shoulder, the hanyou was looking at him with a deep frown, the look that one would throw at someone who'd lost his mind, while the hanyou's aura emitted confusion, careful buried anger, and... something else, something the youkai could not place the correct word to fit in.

The hanyou, on his part, told himself repeatedly to be patient, but the effect only helped it running thinner at the youkai's tendency to stay silent. What the fuck was wrong with him?

Finally decided to himself that this asshole of a brother of his was till acting like an... asshole, he irritated ran one claw hand through his own silver tress, suddenly temping to rip them out of his skull. Seriously, what was wrong with _him_? "This is the place I had my first kill! That was a bunch of youkai, those went after my half-breed ass! The day my...", the hanyou swallowed hard, "… My mother died! And I ran from the castle! The village hu-!"

"The humans chased after you. You ran and ran and ran, until you lost them just to find yourself in somewhere you did not know for the life of yourself that never ventured out of the human's castle and it's futile barrier that offer useless safety haven for those who resided inside.", Sesshoumaru said in one breath. Fixing intense gaze at Inuyasha, his expression as cold as usual, belied something in the edge of his voice that unexpectedly slipped away from his control.

But the hanyou was too astonished to catch on the different, his eyes widened as his whole body started to shake in suppressed rage, "How did you know? _How much_ did you _know_?"

"Where you were standing did not provide you any safe assurance because your own blood invited everything that could smell. You, like the prey you were, kept running.", Sesshoumaru turned away from the hanyou as his eyes trailed the past's imagine of the small figure in fire rat robe, with puppy ears suddenly popped out from one of the bush nearby, and stared at what was in front of his young amber eyes in wonder. The taiyoukai closed his eyes, successfully blocked the flow of memories surged at the front of his mind.

He heard the hanyou laughed bitterly, "Yeah? Did you expect a kid to know something else? The kid that knew not how to defense itself. Know not how to fight. Know not about what inside the world outside the castle wall. Or did you wish they would just kill me back then and saved you all the hassle later?"

"No.", was the quiet reply, "I would not allow you die by those pathetic weaklings to further embarrass the blood that ran in our veins."

"Yes. You always want to kill me by your hands.", Inuyasha said softly, he felt something stung in his eyes as he looked at the taiyoukai in anger defiant. "Even after all these shits, I am till the dirty half-breed to you!"

As the words left him, Inuyasha found his chin was in an iron grip of poison seeping claws and his face was pulled close to a flashing red eyes of his brother. The taiyoukai's fangs bared and a deep growl escaped his throat, the vibrant of it echoed through the woods, disturbed the water's smooth surface, and seemingly overwhelmed everything surrounding them. "Had it ever occurred to you that if I wanted you die, your filthy self would not be standing here talking to this Sesshoumaru the way you've been?"

"Now you are acting all honorable? What about honorable when you made that thing imposed my mother just so you could stick your precious fingers in my eyehole?", Inuyasha spat, hatred more than evident in his eyes as he brought his right hand up and grip the hand holding his chin, while his left hand flew upward as his gaze narrowed._ Sankon Tessou!_

Sesshoumaru had frozen at the mention of the unmother youkai. At that time he'd wanted to just beat the hanyou until the pup spill out about the grave, but he went along with Jaken's annoying plan. He'd approved of the idea, not because it may give him the whereabouts of what he'd been seeking, it was purely the enjoyment of watching the hanyou's suffer, of messing up with the hanyou's brain... by his attachment to the human woman who had given birth to him. He had never felt any remorse then, why he was uncertain now? A sticky feeling on his face brought him back to the fuming hanyou, who was now crouching low on the ground glowing at him.

He smelt his _own_ blood.

On his face.

And the hanyou's bloody claw.

* * *

The surprise of breaking free from Sesshoumaru was overwhelmed by the fact that not only he was succeeded in doing so, but also landed a direct hit right on the face of that fucking asshole of a brother had given the hanyou a very, veerryyy goood ego boost. His stomach bubbled with excite, damn it, he felt like he was gonna all giggle anytime soon! _Sweet mother, now I can die happily!_ He laughed his ass off inside his head.

But his blood ran cold by the time he actually looked at Sesshoumaru. A very big mistake, he concluded. As his rational mind, any part that has recovered from the triumphant feeling from scoring Sesshoumaru's first blood, for the first time in his life, was screaming like crazy at him one word. _RUN!_

Too late.

The taiyoukai jumped up, Bakusaiga drew and flashing with demonic aura, descending with a speed that purely purpose was to end one's life, right on the top of his twitching madly ears.

The swords clanged against each other as blows exchanged, along with colorful curses from the hanyou part and silent snarls from the taiyoukai. Miraculously there was no life in the area that was currently suffering little to no mercy blasts from both Tetsusaiga and Bakusaiga but those innocence as they looked being woods, rocks, and a stream. If before the time both the taiyoukai and hanyou landed their foot in this place, the thick forest that permitted no light from the sky shined through any opening from above to reach the ground or that stream which was there from the joining of numerous ways from the cracks of what look suspicious like a very ridiculous big boulder, so big that could match with a mountain, but its own shape was too misshapen to be one, now there was nothing to shield the landscape against the knowledge of the sun, which was greedily studied the place that was so long denied its advance, hiding away what was covered in its depth.

"Why?!", the hanyou yelled as he sprinted back for momentum and blast another Kaze no kizu at his brother, "Why weren't you there when I needed you most?!"

Sesshoumaru coldly brought Bakusaiga down at him with his usual expressionless gaze. Sometimes the taiyoukai almost seemed like he'd wanted to say something, but he never said anything, just continuous strike after strike at the hanyou for all he'd worth.

That only fueled the hanyou's burning blood further.

"And you looked like you would rather die in that girl's stead!", the hanyou roared, his face tainted with his own blood, the copper smell mixing with sweat and salty liquid leaked from his eyes. His vision suddenly flashed red as Tetsusaiga pulsed and at the moment the edge of the crystallized blade hit the ground, endless diamond spears shot out in Sesshoumaru's direction. _Kongousouha!_

Which the taiyoukai outwardly calm dodging with his unmatched speed and deflecting almost all with Bakusaiga, for some had managed to scratch his cheek and two even pierced through Mokomoko and stayed lodged in his shoulder. His face till and he expressed no pain nor acknowledged any injury in his person.

The hanyou's focus was no longer on the taiyoukai. His vision started blurring around himself in flashing red and clear from one blink to another. What did _he_ just say? Sesshoumaru would rather die in _who_se stead?

And suddenly he was not standing in where he thought he was anymore.

There was no Sesshoumaru. No stream, no forest…

Nothing.

... But a flash of white and a small figure in similar garment as Sango's taijiya attire from a far. _Kohaku?_

Wind blew deafened at his ears as he strained his eyes to see through darkness from his standing. He tried to reach out, to catch up to them… to no avail.

_Watch._ A voice whispered clearly in his ears, no, he could almost touch the owner of that voice… in his head. And he obeyed it, just because there was nothing else he could do.

He watched the white figure kneeled, what looked impossible like Tenseiga was in the ground of darkness some distance away, his head down, his fang bared, and most, he felt it, that same feeling that he'd felt when Kikyou laid dying in his arms the last time he'd seen her smile, that same feeling was oozing out from that figure holding the dead girl so dearly near his heart.

And he no longer felt anything anymore.

Inuyasha turned away and closed his eyes. _I am tired._

_Watch._ He heard the voice again, more clearly.

_I … can't._ His hands dropped at his side. He never realized Tetsusaiga was no longer in his possession.

His vision inside the protection of his closed eyelids turned white, the suddenness of it sprang his eyes open to witness a blinding light coming from behind.

And everything turned back to the familiar darkness. No Sesshoumaru. No Kohaku.

No… Rin.

"So…", he breathed, "That was how the Meidou Zangetsuha…", he found himself unable to voice his word at this new discovered information.

_Incompleted._ His head turned frantically around, hoping beyond hope to catch a glimpse of what he thought, something, to prove him wrong, that he was having something talking inside his head!

As if to answer his desperated attempt to cling into the last bit of his sanity, a wind blew passed his face and now he felt it… something… something very big… behind him.

He turned quickly around, prepared to face whatever it was, something was enjoying to mess with his head. Whatever thing, with Tetsusaiga he would… _Tetsusaiga?_

His eyes widened. _Where is Tetsusaiga?_

A growled above reined his attention as he looked up to face to face with white fur of a mother fucking extremely fuck large… _dog_?

Its lids opened, animalistic red with blue pupils boring into his soul as he saw the reflection of himself in the hound's eyes.

_Come to me._ He heard that voice in his head again as the white dog stalked over in his direction. _Come!_

And he was back, with Sesshoumaru's fist contacted straight in his face.

The hanyou was threw again the large boulder, which cracked further by the force of the impact, and was leaking out more water by the look of it, and instead of washing away his own and his brother's blood that was clinging on his flesh and robe, it seemed to be drawing more of blood out of him from the cuts he'd gotten, no thanks to the one who'd inflicted those, said youkai lunged at him again from above. That fucking bastard sure loved to land his finish attack from high up a lot. With a hiss the hanyou leaped away from where he was.

And Sesshoumaru had seen it coming, for he unsheathed Tenseiga and threw it at the hanyou, aiming his left shoulder.

Inuyasha's eyes widened at the move, out of instinct than the fact that he knew Tenseiga could not harm him in any way possible, he swinged Tetsusaiga up to block the hit.

As the edge of Tenseiga collided with Tetsusaiga's, both fangs pulsed, and the pulse of it ran through Inuyasha.

Tetsusaiga's blade turned pit black as Tenseiga slowly disappeared into the Meidou through Tetsusaiga.

Sesshoumaru's eyes widened slightly. _What?_

When Tenseiga reappeared, its blade was painted the very same black color as Tetsusaiga and pierced through Inuyasha's heart, pinning the hanyou into the boulder in the process.

* * *

_No!_

Was the only thing in the taiyoukai's mind as he leaped toward the pinned-by-Tenseiga hanyou.

He was panic.

_Inuyasha._

That was not what he had intended. He was pissed at the mention of Rin from the hanyou. But he was thinking clear enough through his rage that the hanyou was in noway to know about that. He wasn't there. He couldn't have known. And there was no time for the hanyou to inquire around during their last moments with Naraku until now.

The hanyou had a look of lost then, as if he was not there anymore and only came back to reality the moment before that punch of the taiyoukai hit him. The water trickled through that boulder would heal some of his wounds if he stayed long enough… but knowing the hanyou, he would jump right back to spill another of Tetsusaiga's ability at him as soon as he regained his standing again.

_Talking about the obvious…_ The taiyoukai sighed at the hanyou's attempt to leap away. _Maybe Tenseiga would keep him in place for a while…_ and he threw it at Inuyasha's left shoulder.

Neither of them had expected it.

Inuyasha had not expected Tenseiga was aiming at him.

Sesshoumaru had not expected the fool would use Tetsusaiga to block something that couldn't-cut.

The taiyoukai's blood ran cool at the sight of black Tenseiga came out through Tetsusaiga and pierced the hanyou's heart with its edge.

He was near enough to grab the hilt of Tenseiga with all purpose in the world to pull it out of the hanyou as a pulse followed with a burst of youki emitted from Inuyasha forced him back away to land on the ground. The bewildered taiyoukai looked up at the pinned hanyou to watch said hanyou loosened his grip on Tetsusaiga and threw it to his left hand as his right hand now was free to come up and grabbed the hilt of Tenseiga, slowly pulled it free from his body. When the swords were secured in both hands, the hanyou dropped artlessly to the ground in front of Sesshoumaru.

The taiyoukai could not know how to explain the sight before him. True that it was not the first time he had looked at it, but that was when Tetsusaiga had lost its power, or Tetsusaiga was too far away from the hanyou. But he was face to face with the purple jagged stripes on the sides of his cheeks, crimson eyes hanyou-turned-youkai Inuyasha, till holding Tetsusaiga in all its glory.

"I had always wanted to say it. Just to know how it feel to say it to your own brother.", the hanyou turned youkai stated in Inuyasha's voice with a deep calm tone, hold its gaze fixed sole on the taiyoukai as a smile lacked sanity crept in the corner of his lips. He raised both pit black Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga over his head and brought them down in front of the seemingly frozen taiyoukai.

"Die. Sesshoumaru!", the words were spoken with so much hatred directed at the taiyoukai as a large black orb appeared in front of the two that suddenly was cut into hundreds of smaller orbs by over dozen of crescent shape black moons flying from inside out and all shot at the taiyoukai's direction.

_"Meidou Zangetsuha!"_

* * *

**To be continued...**

* * *

**Author's rant**

I will mark this day as the day I made my first clip hanger in my life.

* * *

**Review reply**

To mangafan, thank you for your support of my story. I would like to give you a bear hug for your reviews. So far I am working good with my ideas, but to word ideas into words need time, and I enjoy having my time. It was okay with me if not many read my story, because first of all I write for myself. So I won't stop writing this anytime soon.

Once again thank you.

* * *

And thank you for those who've been reading.


	6. Something only the new moon knew

**Disclaimer**

Inuyasha (c) Rumiko Takahashi

* * *

**Author's Note**

I am back with a new chapter after a month staying dead somewhere. This chapter actually took me quite a long time to write because I had too many ideas to process how it would turn out, along with several versions of it was raw writing and most was unfinished because I had no idea how to continue with the ideas as it was. In the end it was done. And the damage was done too.

* * *

**Warning**

Angsty Inucest. If you like a happy chapter with something cute and WAFF, you are encouraged to read something else. The direction of this story are not going toward WAFF, yet.

* * *

**Chapter 5**

* * *

"Kaede-sama!"

The old miko looked up from her herb gathering work on the hill, which located in far east of her village to catch a glimpse of the child running toward her. The child was brilliant, kind, innocent, everything one would love to have as one's child, despite her long period living with a taiyoukai who always wanted to kill his own younger brother, an annoying imp, and a two heads dragon.

The girl skidded to a stop when she came to three steps away from the old miko, who also acknowledge the adults came with her. The monk and the taijiya inclined their heads in greeting. They would, of course, get a piece of her mind if they were daring enough to let the girl run all the way from the village through the forest to get here all by herself.

"Kaede-sama.", Rin called again, and the old miko patted her head gently, the clearly affection act made the girl giggled and Rin, in turn, without hesitation closed their gap to hug the miko around her waist, the height to which her short height could reach. "Kaede-sama, Sango-sama and houshi-sama wanted to speak to you, but you were not in the village so Rin brings them here!", the child said eagerly.

Kaede frowned at her speech, while the monk and the taijiya stood dumbfound looking at the girl, too astonished at her to say anything else. Was it just them or the way the girl spoke reminded them dreadfully of someone they knew?

The old miko put that thought to somewhere in the back of her mind, something she would start to work into at a later time, to look at the two adults stood nearby, noted their nervousness. She looked up at the sky and noticed it was going to get dark soon. "Let's go back, then.", she told them all and they started moving in the direction of the village, with Rin ran spinning in the lead.

"She's cute, isn't she?", Sango spoke for the first time during their way back. Her guilt for almost killing the girl inside Naraku resurfaced and evident in her voice. The monk grabbed her hand with a gentle squeezed, she only shook her head and gave him a small smile.

"Did Inuyasha tell you to get me?", Kaede asked after a while, her eyes fixing on the enthusiasm girl ahead. Although the girl was sprinting herself here and there and sometimes would be too far ahead, but she never stayed out of the adults' sight.

"Actually, Kaede-sama,", Miroku began, "We came for you to ask if you knew where he could be... He has not returned yet.", he finished as he casted a glance at the darkening sky.

At this Kaede tore her gaze away from the child to regard the two adults walked alongside her. "You haven't seen him at all?"

Sango nodded. "We searched in his forest and people in the village said they did not see him at all."

"Where could he be?...", the miko repeated.

By then, they had reached the outskirt of the village. Everyone was hoping as they was getting close to Kaede's hut, the sight of a certain irritated hanyou pacing around with a grumbling stomach and spilling curses for late dinner would greet their eyes.

However, those inside the hut proved them otherwise.

Kohaku was sitting near the dying fire in the middle of the old miko's hut with Kirara laying atop his folded legs and Shippo leaning on his right thigh, sound asleep. Upon seeing the adults filled in the hut, he looked up at them then close his eyes and shook his head, the gesture gave their unasked question gaze a silent answer. When he opened his eyes, Rin was already sitting by his left, the three adults sat across from them.

"Aneue.", Kohaku called, gained the attention of the humans in the small hut, "Earlier, Kouga-"

He was interrupted as a certain wolf demon suddenly decided to barge into the human dwelling. "Oi!"

"Kouga?!", to say the monk and the taijiya were astonished was an understatement. They'd thought Kouga would never show up again since the day he'd left the fight with Naraku. And about Kagome…

The wolf prince darted his eyes around the hut scanning the residents, he momentarily noticed the small girl hiding behind the younger taijiya's back, that one looked familiar… But he turned to look at Kohaku as the boy's lips pressed together to a thin line and he frowned while his eyes glanced back and forth between Rin and Kouga.

"His scent disappeared near the outskirt of the forest.", Kouga announced seemingly to all of the humans, he folded his arms across his chest, "There was no sight of any fighting though… but… hmm…", he seemed to lost in thought then.

"Wait a minute, what do you mean by his scent disappeared?", the monk spoke up in confusion.

"As I said, it disappeared.", Kouga regarded the monk, "It led to the outskirt then stopped… don't look at me like that!", he snapped as the humans all looked at him with the expression that screamed 'Are you serious?'

It seemed to be a long conversation with the humans, he concluded, so he moved away from the entrance and sat down near the slumbering fox kit. Once again he noticed the small girl hiding behind Kohaku, now looked at him with a curious light in her eyes.

Kohaku silently observed the exchange between the girl and the wolf. During his short travel with Sesshoumaru's pack, he'd learned about Rin's first death and aware of her trauma concerning the wolf.

"Um…", Rin whispered, till looked curiously at the wolf sat on Kohaku's other side, "Thank you for saving me that time…"

"Huh?", the wolf prince now confused, okay so this human girl knew him, and she looked familiar too, but he swore he didn't know any other human girl but Kagome and her traveling companion taijiya… Then it hit him. "Ah.", his eyes widened at the realization, "You are the human chibi I saw with that girly looking dog!", he announced.

Suddenly the monk, the taijiya siblings looked away from him and covered their mouths, their shoulders shaking, a gesture suspicious looked like they were trying hard not to laugh out loud. While the old miko started coughing from time to time. The girl now stood up and walked around Kohaku to face to face with the wolf, hands on her hips as her face contorted its best to scowl, but to all the lookers, she looked like she was pouting. "Sesshoumaru-sama is not a girly looking dog! He is strong!", she bellowed in defense for her lord. This wolf demon just talked bad about her lord!

Kouga looked at the girl with a bored expression and waved his hand dismissively. He had more important things to do than to argue with a dog-fangirl, a human kid one at that. This was going to be a long night… He rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, what do you guys think if the mutt and… _Sesshoumaru-sama_," he drawled in sarcasm without looking at the fuming human girl, "were together?"

"They would try to tear each other's throat out…", a sleepy voice mumbled from the right side of Kohaku. Shippo sat up and rubbed the sleep off his eyes and he noticed everyone was looking at him, "You guys are back…"

"Did you sleep well?", Kohaku asked, his fingers absently rubbed Kirara's chin, to which the cat purred in contentment.

"I thought I heard someone was screaming… so I woke up… what's happened?", Shippo looked around confused.

"I'm sorry.", Rin timidly whispered apologetically as she sat down near Shippo.

The fox kit looked at her, then to the wolf demon. Kouga just shrugged. "Have you guys found Inuyasha?", the fox kit asked the adults in hope, but upon his wakening there was still no sight of Inuyasha, he already knew their answer.

"Not yet.", Sango said, she looked at the saddened fox kit, "Why don't you have a rest first with Kohaku and Rin and Kirara. You guys seemed tired. Knowing Inuyasha, he would return before you knew it.", she tried to lighten the mood in the small human shelter, which was kept warm by the small fire in the middle.

"I guess…", Shippo gave a small whisper after a yawn as he stood up with Rin and Kohaku, who had the cat in his arm and walked out of the miko's hut to the spared hut they had used to when they were fighting with Naraku not far away from there.

With the children were now gone from earshot, the four remaining regarded each other.

"I smelt Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru near your holy tree and it led westward. Then it was like they were gone together somewhere. I lost their scents near the end of the forest.", Kouga spoke in more details.

"Since you left their relationship hopefully improved a bit, but we are not sure.", Miruko said, "Sesshoumaru regrew his lost left arm, got a new sword together with it, too…", the monk stated in wonder, now that he thought about it, _that_ situation was unbelievable in itself than most…

"Are you serious?!", the wolf snorted, "If I could spawn a weapon and regrew a limp that way I'd be gladly have an arm or a leg cut off all the time."

"But it was the thruth.", Sango sighed, "Toutousai said that because Sesshoumaru had let go of his resentment against Inuyasha and attachment to their father' sword Testsusaiga he'd gained his own sword and his lost arm."

"So you presumed because of that they may be in a better… relationship?", Kouga looked at them for confirmation, to which the monk and the taijiya both nodded. The wolf hummed in thought. He had not much information about how dog demon reacted to each other but he guessed as the same fellow canines, dog and wolf maybe not so different. "So what if Sesshoumaru knew about Inuyasha's secret?", he wondered aloud absentmindly.

"I think not.", The monk stated, "Given their past encounters, if Sesshoumaru knew about his human night Inuyasha may not survive this long. Sesshoumaru hated his human blood."

"Or their father demon blood is running inside Inuyasha in that matter." Sango added.

"Then you may want to think about the worst possible.", Kouga stood up and walked toward the hut's entrance, the sky was pit black and dawn was still very far away. "If they were till together, no doubt by now Sesshoumaru was seeing his human brother, if he let the mutt alive at all.", he finished and was gone before anyone could speak up.

On his way back to his pack, something was unsettled to him. About all the hanyou mysteries that came into his knowledge by rumors. Why? Because there was no hanyou alive long enough to confirm what the rumors about their half-breed race were true or false, and not so many cared about it either. All the hatred against hanyou in particular forced them to live as outcasts in both human and youkai societies and was killed in sight, infant or not. Inuyasha was the only one hanyou he'd known until now that lived long enough to almost reach maturity and he grudgingly acknowledged his strength and courage throughout their encounters.

But in his brief exchange with Inuyasha's brother, Sesshoumaru, he'd felt something odd about this demon, one he could not say what. That one time he'd taunted the other about their half sibling relationship and Sesshoumaru's reaction to it. Sure he'd saw the other was pissed, but there was something else, almost hidden there, _almost_. He'd pushed that thought away, maybe it was just his imagination. But then again, he was youkai, what he saw with his eyes was what it was. And what was that if his eyes was working fine?

"Maybe Inuyasha could stay alive this long was because Sesshoumaru knew about it…", he talked to no one in particular as he sped up through the dark toward his pack.

If his guess was right then the chance to meet the hanyou again was not slim. He did not want to raise the humans' hope up for all their loyalty toward the hanyou just to have it turned into despair at the end of the day. This was, after all his own theory in the situation, he had no guarantee about it.

He thought about the turn of the event, since the first time he'd met Kagome. He had changed, a lot. And surprising enough, he did not miss the youkai that was himself before he knew her at all.

"I am turning soft.", he laughed shortly as his legs kept moving frantically toward the direction of his home.

The moonless night surrounded everything. Having the knowledge that no one knew about and having the answers that everyone wanted to know about. Yet the moonless night stayed silent as ever, to keep what she knew sealing deep within her dark embrace.

* * *

Pain. All he felt was pain. Pain in his left. Pain in his right. Pain above. Pain below. From inside out and even outside in.

He could not feel anything else but pain.

Pain to the point he wondered if this was what dead felt like. He was too bad to be in the heaven and was threw to hell instead?

Then he heard something sound like a snort.

"If I did not know it I would have doubt the fact that you've been sleeping in a tree for the most part of your life."

He groaned. Damn that noise hurted his skull like a bitch. _Either you shut up or stop talking!_

"Stop moving. Inuyasha."

_Fuck you! Just shut up! You are hurting my ears!_ He groaned again. Every-damn-thing hurted so damn much and that fucking damn voice was fucking with his damn head.

"Inuyasha."

Now that voice was a low growl right in his ears. He tried his best to grip whatever he was gripping in his hands to will his pain away momentarily to force open his heavy eyelids. Whoever-that-was was gonna have a piece of his mind right now for making him felt like shit with that fucking voice right now!

He saw white and red and puffy something first thing first. He strained his jaw muscle to mutter a weak "huh?" at whatever was it that greeted his eyes. His voice sounded too weak for his liking, and the intense pain was not subdue any, if not increasing as time passed by. What the hell was going on with his body?

"Stop moving. You are killing us both."

He heard that voice again and his head snapped to the direction of it. A bad move. Because he felt as if his neck almost broke in the process. But what he saw right then and there rendered him speechless.

Judging by this position, he was laying atop Sesshoumaru, and they were nestled inside his fluffy thing that he always had it wrapped around his right shoulder. But it was completely bathed in crimson color with copper smelling this close. He felt light head. He felt like passing out now would be better. Or die now would be the best. His eyes were about to roll upward that he felt something pressed on his back and made the pain more intensify, which successfully rendered him unable to reach his paradise of unconsciousness. He gritted his teeth to muffle his groan of pain. He dropped his head back to Sesshoumaru chest. Then he heard a soft grunt from the one laying under him, followed with unimaginable shallow breaths, and very faint slow heartbeat.

"Why am I till alive?", he whispered to himself.

"I would rather know why you have not dead yet if I was you.", he heard Sesshoumaru said softly as he felt the thing pressed against his back tightened to the point of almost breaking his ribs.

"I thought those were the same thing…", Inuyasha snorted, "Your age finally catch up to you, Sesshoumaru."

"Hn", was all he heard from his brother as they went all silent. Neither spoke up again for a very long time that he thought Sesshoumaru may be asleep, if his brother ever slept at all.

That was when he realized the state they were in, especially Sesshoumaru's. They were both completely covered in blood. Sesshoumaru's usual fluffy white thing was now colored in a deep crimson and his right hand was limply at his side while his left hand undoubtly was position at his back to steady him atop his brother. But what drew his attention the most was Sesshoumaru's right shoulder, where usually covered by his fluff was now bare, pale skin covered in angry red tendons and to make it worse, the wound that should be healed over time keep bleeding and it was not healing by what he was seeing. And it was the reason why he saw red everywhere.

Sesshoumaru had his eyes close, his brow furrowed together in a soft grimace. All of his life knowing his brother, Sesshoumaru never showed pain. Now seeing what was present in front of his very eyes... Then he saw a flash of Kagome's era, where demon was just a myth. Fear and panic bubbled in his stomach. He needed to do something. If it kept up Sesshoumaru would die of blood lost, taiyoukai or not! And he would not have Sesshoumaru died on him, not back then, not now, not ever!

He tried to squirm away from Sesshoumaru. He needed to do something, anything, but what he could do now. His body was even worse. Each movement spiked a new pain to his spine and flesh, but he was not gonna sit around and watch this… this…

"Sesshoumaru…", he weakly called out for his brother. His vision blurry.

"I told you to stop moving.", Sesshoumaru's soft voice reach his ears but his eyes remained closed.

To hear this voice spoke to him without the usual harshness and hatred was not something he used to. At any other time he would feel anything but worry. "You are bleeding!"

"Is there something else I know that you want to tell me?", this time Sesshoumaru opened his eyes a bit to grace Inuyasha with a flash of irritated golden iris.

"Release me so I can do something about it.", Inuyasha mumbled. His brother' sarcasm somehow almost made him feel relief. _Almost_.

"No.", Sesshoumaru deadpanned.

Inuyasha dropped his head and groaned. He felt a small rumble where his ear was in contact with Sesshoumaru's bare chest. If he didn't know better, he'd swear the bastard was laughing, for fucking sake, he was _laughing!_

"It is healing."

"The hell it is!", Inuyasha snapped.

He saw one eye of his brother twitched. His sudden raised of voice hurted both their ears and his own dry throat. He glanced at the till bleeding bloody punctured flesh of his brother. His mind registered that was exactly the place his Kongousouha was lodged in when they were fighting. And had his mind was more clear, the fact that he was once got pierced through his stomach with several diamond spears bonus with Naraku's miasma not long ago in the attempt to absorb Sesshoumaru's Meidou Zangetsuha, and thanked to Sesshoumaru intervention it had already started healing right when his brother yanked them out of his body. But right now his mind was working on how to stop the bleeding to notice Sesshoumaru's wound was not healing at all as it was supposed to be, nor the abnormal red tendons spreading around the bloody gash.

"You will not moving around in this state.", Sesshoumaru said quietly and closed his lids. His breath was far too shallow for Inuyasha's liking.

"At least let me get something to eat.", the younger tried again. If he could find food maybe it would help with the healing process.

"You would become the food before you could even get any food.", Sesshoumaru's eyesbrow twitched, annoyed was evident in his voice. Couldn't the pup just stay where he was and rest till they were both capable of doing something else aside rest?

"Hey! I am not the one got a hole in my body this time! Asshole!", Inuyasha snapped.

"Because Tenseiga was the sword that can't cut."

"You pinned me!"

"And?"

"And…", Inuyasha stopped. He didn't remember anything after that. What had happened? Sesshoumaru's forehead did not bleed the last time he saw him, neither was his kimono tattered nor his armor missing. Nor he even bathed in his own blood…

Dread consumed him as he painfully raised his hand to his vision.

He saw bloody human blunt nails.

His eyes widened as he looked at his hair on his side in panic. He met a midnight black hair sticky with both dry and wet blood. _Oh no…_

_I am human!_

"How much do you remember after that?", he heard Sesshoumaru soft voice and looked up. Those emotionless eyes looked at him again. He tried to search for something he did not want to see in those all too familiar golden eyes that haunted his childhood. But he found nothing. Who was he joking with? To think he could even read his brother…

He dropped his gaze. "Nothing.", eyeing his hands he spoke softly, "I did… all… this?", he swallowed the lump in his throat, "I lost myself to my own demon… again?"

For a long time that went on like forever for Inuyasha, but in reality only a short time after he had spoken, Sesshoumaru's left hand that was on his back moved upward to the back of his head and guided him to the area between his brother's left shoulder and neck. He wasted no time in buried himself in the small shelter that was wordlessly offered and let his tears fell. The shook of his body by his mental anguish gave them both new physical waves of pain. But at that time neither of them cared anymore.

Sesshoumaru laid seemingly motionless holding his hanyou younger brother.

Inuyasha curled up against his brother like a pup crying after he realized he had done something bad. But he knew it better, something he had done was even worse than just bad.

"No." Sesshoumaru said softly. "And no.", his fingers ran softly against black hair in search for the trace of once was there puppy ears that was now turned into human ears stayed at the side of Inuyasha's head. "Maybe that was your own body. But it was not you who did this."

Inuyasha choked on his own blood that seeped out of his mouth. "This must be a dream.", he tried to laugh but it came out as a cough of more blood when he moved his face away from the hollow of Sesshoumaru's neck to look at his brother's face, his vision was dimming. "You've never comforted me in all my life. But it was all good. At least I am to die this way… till being myself…", he smiled weakly at the widened eyes Sesshoumaru, "And for once in my life to have you treat me like a brother…"

He never felt Sesshoumaru hand had moved away from his head and more blood started spilling, this time was from the very fresh cuts from where Sesshoumaru had dug his claws into his own left palm, forced his demon blood oozed out and showered the younger even more in crimson liquid that was the very life essence of his older brother.

"… than a filthy half breed…"

Darkness welcomed the hanyou in its cold embrace. And Inuyasha gladly accepted with little to no struggling. He had nothing else to live for. Kagome was gone. Sango and Miroku had each other. Sango and Kohaku was reunited. Kaede had more to worry about than hanging out with her late sister's past lover. He felt bad to leave them without saying goodbye, but he'd never good at it either. If they never saw him again then that was it.

And Sesshoumaru, his own brother would never miss him. Even though he had a good last dream about dying as himself, and not a mindless monster, in his brother arms at least…

* * *

She felt unease. She had been pacing around her palace since forever when this feeling wormed its ugly self into her consciousness. Something was calling for her somewhere, but she couldn't point out exactly what. Her limps were trembling as she tried her best to steady herself. She forced her rational to work its best to solve the reason as to why this feeling of dread was consuming her.

Her ancient wisdom whispered tauntingly in her head. That she did not want to acknowledge this feeling, the one she tried to bury in the deepest depth of her soul centuries ago. The very same feeling she never wanted to live in again.

The feeling that was long forgotten.

Way back when she had given birth to Sesshoumaru.

"Sesshoumaru?..."

* * *

**To be continued...**

* * *

**Author's Rant**

Somehow I think I've made another sort of cliff hanger in this chapter too. And not just one.

I am very fond of dog, mind you. And I like both Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru, and I surely want to see them live a happy life ever after. But seriously, I've never seen any living happily ever after couple without walking through hardship together here and there. And happiness never fell from the sky like some of the people in the world suddenly won a Lotte from nowhere in particular. Even Kagome and Inuyasha's bond was tested too many times to count in Inuyasha series for them to finally settled down together at last. So you can expect a happy ending in the end of this story, but I ask you to leave now if you think I am going to make them walk toward the end with little to no effort (on both their side and mine).

I surely am going to try not to make them act too out of character. But the situation I gave whoever in my story was not the same situation they had in their main story, so none of my reader, include myself, can demand of me the in character state of any of the character that made their present in my story.

* * *

**Review reply**

To **mangafan**, I hope I could make it worth for the wait too :).

To** SesshoPuppy**, I am not taking anyone's order, nor I am going to stop writing my own story just because you told me to stop writing. If you think I am offended you in some ways or another, you are encouraged to go and read other stories out there.

And I thank you for those who Favorited and Following my story. Knowing you silent observers in my story was a nice boost in my motivation to lessen the time gap between this chapter and the next of this story because I feel so good!

Much love to all my readers.

Until next time.

Asuka K.


	7. My Inuyasha

**Disclaimer**

Inuyasha (c) Rumiko Takahashi

* * *

**Author's Note**

I was having a hard time to process with this chapter. It was not how I original planned but the overall picture was kept. But write out this chapter was like a challenge to me, for first time wrote fighting scenes and sappy scene in one mood.

* * *

**Warning**

Violent? Blood? Inucest? Yay~

* * *

**Chapter 6**

* * *

_Just before the black crescent shape of the closet Meidou Zangetsuha could manage to hit him, he'd airborne, putting a safe distant between himself and the almost-be his doom. The left over surprise attack from the transformed Inuyasha till had its occupation in his mind. A flash of white and red from right side caught his attention and he brought Bakusaiga up to block a blow from both Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga once again descended on him. The usual Inuyasha's strength was not a problem, but now with his full demonic power flowing together with Tetsusaiga's aura in sync, the taiyoukai would be a fool if he thought he was still being the one with advantage here._

_"What's wrong, Sesshoumaru?" The taiyoukai narrowed his eyes at the taunting tone of the hanyou-turned-youkai, "You are being pushed back."_

_Indeed he was._

_As three swords collided again in the middle of the air, the pure force of two opposite demonic powers pushed them back away from each other and landed on the ground._

_The hanyou pointed Tetsusaiga at the taiyoukai while Tenseiga stayed silent in the grip of his left hand on his side. The smirk on his face never left. His eyes showed nothing to announce his next move or how it would come. The air surrounded him was full of his thirst for blood and the intense of his demonic aura released._

_And again, he lunged at the taiyoukai with a war cry that made the earth under their feet trembled._

* * *

One thing he felt when consciousness came back to him was heavy. His eyelids felt heavy. His body felt heavy. His head felt heavy. And he felt like something heavy was having its fucking heavy weight on him.

But breathing was surprisingly easier now.

"Relax your muscles." He heard a voice, presumably talking to him. He could not recognize the owner of this voice. For he did not remember knowing any female this young to own a voice so soft yet so cold at the same time. But he found himself did as he was told for his body felt lighter now that the tension almost left. _Almost_. For the most part of his life he'd lived the way of a running-for-your-life-or-be-a-meal hanyou, to fully let his guard down in stranger's present while he did not know what was waiting for him was just a suicide act.

Finally able to force his eyes open, he wished he hadn't been so eager in the first place and shut it off only in half a blink later. Never in his life was the light such a bitch as just now. He buried his face deeper in whatever blanket was surrounding him and welcomed the darkness behind his lids like an old friend. He sighed almost contently until realization slapped him in the face at the scent hit his nose next was what of one, he was dreadfully aware of, that his being always screamed in danger. Against his will he forced his eyes open again.

Yup. This was the real Sesshoumaru. But…

"He looks like he was sleeping…" He mumbled softly to himself, fearfully afraid of waking the taiyoukai and having his stomach impaled once again by said taiyoukai's hand if he found they was in a very, very awkward position… and too close for the hanyou's comfort.

"He didn't release you even when I swore I will not do anything funny to you." He heard the same soft and cold voice again and tried to strain his head a bit to look at the direction where the voice came from. The sight greeted him made he felt like he was about to pass out again. "Great, now I am seeing Sesshoumaru's double."

He heard an amused 'Hoh' from the _Sesshoumaru's double_ at his remark. As much as he wanted to just go back to whatever state he was before he woke up, he found himself unable to as he looked at the sleeping-taiyoukai again, this time with a bit more attention than before. "He is sleeping…" He mumbled again in wonder.

"Indeed. He is sleeping." _Sesshoumaru's double_ agreed.

"No. He _IS_ sleeping." He said again.

"Pup." Amused in her tone as she regarded him, "Believe it or not, even one like _him_ needs a sleep."

The first thing he realized was his man's pride just got a direct hit by being called a 'pup'. Second thing, he was being talked to in the manner of one elder regarded their young ones. And he did not know what to feel at this moment, embarrass or angry. But surely the blood was running up and made his face felt hot. "But I've never seen him sleep." He spoke sulkily, "And I am not a pup."

"Really?" He heard soft chuckle, what was funny about it?

"How do you feel?" He heard the question and was attempted to brush off, but the next words came giving him a second thought, "If I move closer his claws will pierce through your heart so this is the safest distance between us."

"Huh?" Now he looked lower. One arm of Sesshoumaru wrapped around his mid-section, and _that_ was the bloody reason why he was feeling as if a bounder was resting on him. His shoulder was partly resting on Sesshoumaru other's hand and it was touching the left side of his back. Right, this close it would not take much time to drive that hand into his heart. What the hell?

"He did not move since you two got here, more like since he brought you here." He heard her said, the amount of amusement in her voice made the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. "He would not let me touch you. He would not let me see into your injuries. He would not let me do anything to you. And, as I said," She moved around to stood in the front of his vision, now at Sesshoumaru's back, she crouched low, her hands braced on the edge of whatever-very-soft he and his brother was laying on, her eyes looked pointy at his face, her expression unreadable, "If I am to have the intention to kill you, even in his unconsciousness he will kill you first."

She drew back and stood up, "So be at peace and have your rest. Knowing full well no one in their right mind will disturb you."

With that she turned and left his vision, then her aura disappeared into thin air, signaled him her present was no longer near.

And Inuyasha was left to himself, looking at his sleeping brother in awe. "Are you that obsess in killing my hanyou ass?"

He was intended that just a talk with himself. But his sleeping brother's lips curved up at hearing his latest thought aloud. "I said only this Sesshoumaru will be the only one to kill you."

A loud gasp from a red face hanyou at the unexpected awaken taiyoukai. "You… You…"

To say all words left the hanyou was an understatement. There was not even one word the hanyou could mutter at that moment aside from some incoherence curses and he started squirming in the taiyoukai's arms.

"Be still." Sesshoumaru warned as he tightened his grip on the frantically moving hanyou, "Had you not heard what she said?"

"That's your double!" The hanyou almost screamed, his throat suddenly felt dry more than ever, "I am not going to fall in whatever game you are playing at!"

The first time Sesshoumaru opened his eyes to look at the hanyou ever since they were here, and his gaze effectively shut the hanyou up and froze him in place with its unreadable gleam of something the hanyou could not put word into. He expected his brother would throw him away any instant now and braced himself for the expectantly sudden impact.

However, that was far, too far away from the taiyoukai's mind.

"What kind of game are you implying I am playing at, Inuyasha?" The taiyoukai looked down at the widened eyes hanyou. "That I am treating you without hostile to get in your good grace and throw you away like a trash later when I am done with you?" The youkai continued with a sneer, one that he always threw at the hanyou together with the I-am-holier-than-thou speaking way mixed with disgust in most of his brother's life time.

The hanyou swallowed. Yes, this was the normal Sesshoumaru he'd known. The one brother treated him like nothing but dirt under his feet. The same brother always left him with a pang in his heart and a missing part of something in his life.

Unlike that expressive face spoke all what its owner was feeling inside of the hanyou, the youkai's heart which endured all his emotions had put a strong wall surrounded his being to shield his thoughts against the world through many centuries of his life and more to come successfully blocked all signs of his inner conflict to show on his face, leaving an expressionless being stood tall and proud for all to see, what was the shell of himself, what was the perfectionist of feeling nothing, what was the perfect royal assassin his birth meant to.

"What would that benefit this Sesshoumaru?" He asked the hanyou with little to none emotion.

"I don't know." Inuyasha turned his head away, the taiyoukai's face may not show any emotion as usual but the way his eyes was piercing the hanyou made his stomach unsettled, he did not want to be the receiving end of that kind of gaze. He closed his eyes. "I don't want to know."

A shadow loomed over him. Till keeping his eyes closed, the hanyou took a deep breath, "Why are you keeping me alive?"

Hot breath traveled up from his neck to his lips as he felt something ever so softly brushed against his fresh to the side of his cheek. "Do you want to die, Inuyasha?" Whispered close to his ear very slowly as if the one had spoken afraid one word would be unexpectedly slipped out of the hanyou's hearing.

A cold hand caressed the other side of his cheek and guided his head to face Sesshoumaru's side. Inuyasha reopened his eyes to look at his brother, who was looking at him so intensely it almost drowned him in an unpleasant way. "I've been fighting against everything to continue living." He gave a small humorless smile, "Nothing but you can really kill me so far."

The taiyoukai smirked. "You forgot to count the one miko who pinned you to a tree for 50 years."

At this the hanyou scowled, "Kagome freed me."

The hand had been caressing the hanyou's cheek moved up to his puppy ear, at the soft touch it flicked back and forth then went slack against the gentle treatment. Inuyasha sighed in contentment and closed his eyes, felt a bit daring to throw all cautions into the wind and actually snuggled closer into the taiyoukai. He would question his own sanity when his brain functioned better when he came out of this, whatever it was, alive.

"It had been a long 50 years."

"What?" The younger one scoffed, "Now you are whining because someone stole your toy?"

"No." The elder went silent. If not for the good feeling bestowed his one ear the hanyou would presume the taiyoukai had gone sleeping again, if he ever slept at all.

The hanyou was tempted to go back to unconsciousness any time now. He could not feel anything from his own body, the pain and heaviness were there when he first woke up were replaced by a numbness that darkened his vision. He wondered if he had ever felt so tired in his life until now.

"I wonder…" He heard Sesshoumaru's voice spoke against his temple, "If what I've been putting us through was all for naught."

"Why?" The hanyou heard himself asked, his eyes dropping.

"Because there was no need for youkai to rule this land anymore." The caress on the ear of the hanyou stopped so the same hand could cup the back of the hanyou's head to draw it to the hollow of the taiyoukai's neck, "Or this part of the living world."

In darkness the hanyou could hear very clearly what the taiyoukai was saying. The vision of Kagome's time flashed again in his mind as the hanyou hands unconsciously gripped the taiyoukai's garment.

"Had I been a good sibling to you, Inuyasha?" The taiyoukai asked as he looked down at the snowy head of the younger one.

A snort was his reply as the younger released his grip on the soft fabric that covered the taiyoukai to wrap hesitantly around his brother's mid-section. "You have to ask?". He rested his head on Sesshoumaru's chest, wondered why the beating of his brother's heart was so soothing.

"I did ask you."

"Well…" The hanyou mumbled.

The taiyoukai raised one delicate eyebrow, though the hanyou would never see it for he till had his eyes closed. "Well?"

"You were not Sango, she would try to kill Kohaku to free him from Naraku's control, or ran after him to have him back even for a short while before he would be taken away again…" The hanyou murmured to the taiyoukai's chest, "I fought with the thunder sibling too… the one that had a no-hair brother…" He purred softly as the caress on his ear came back, "I killed the younger one… then I saw the other ate him…" His eyes opened and he looked up to his brother with a small and somewhat far away smile, "I thought that was nice, to have something of his brother inside of him, even if one of them was dead."

Sesshoumaru touched his forehead with the hanyou's as he closed his eyes.

"I am not being a hanyou because I want to or I can choose it." The hanyou swallowed a lump in his throat.

"Neither was it your choice to be born as a royal." Sesshoumaru whispered.

The hanyou sniffed as he leaned up more to push his forehead against Sesshoumaru's, "But what I've been through made me stronger."

"And I am proud of you." Sesshoumaru opened his eyes to look at the widened ones, "When you woke up from the illusion of your mother." A small peck at the hanyou lips silent what he was about to talk in retort for that mention, "When you cut my left arm off in my true form." The hanyou opened his mouth again but the halt of the caress on his ear and a light tap of one finger at his lips once again got him silent, "When you took less and less time to recover from my poison be it on your skin", a kiss was planted on his forehead, "your eyes", another on his brow, "or your stomach", Sesshoumaru drew back a bit to look at the hanyou's bewildered face with a small smile. "Or even when your first Kaze no Kizu almost got me had it not for Tenseiga's barrier."

"I…" The hanyou managed out, but what was he supposed to say next?

"Or when you fought even with human strength in mount Hakurei." At this the hanyou eyeballs almost popped out as his mouth hung open, and the taiyoukai narrowed his eyes, "But I am not impressed with how your feelings lingered on the dead miko."

"Because you watched her…" Momentary anger flared inside the hanyou as his memory flashed at the mention of Kikyo. "Naraku was…"

"Do you want her to live that way even if she had already died, Inuyasha?"

"How about I ask you if the girl was truly dead in the meidou then you till want to bring her back to live the same way as how Kikyo was?!" Inuyasha yelled at his sibling, that one was one time he would never forgive Sesshoumaru.

At the same time the words spilled out of his lips…

* * *

_A flash of darkness lit by a pair of blood red demonic eyes opened and narrowed to slits._

* * *

… A shock wave shot through him from top to toes, his mouth opened in a silent scream, his vision flashed white and black and he went limp in his brother's arm. Dimming golden half opened as he came back to whatever just happened to his body, "What was it…" The hanyou mumbled, "Right… I thought when that youkai ate his brother…" He could hardly recognized Sesshoumaru's outline anymore, everything was so blurry and far away, "…I thought it was nice… to have a part of your brother inside of you…"

Unconsciousness embraced the hanyou as his brother tightened his own embrace around him too.

_"Inuyasha…"_

* * *

"You are pushing your luck, Sesshoumaru." A familiar female voice sang on the other side of the white marble wall which separated the room the two royal inuyoukai siblings and the outside world.

Tightened his hold on the unconscious hanyou, Sesshoumaru glanced over his shoulder to the shadow loomed on the wall. "Mother."

There was no slit on the white marble wall where the owner of this sky palace was facing her eyes on, she stood there for some time, and slowly the wall dissolved into thin air in front of her eyes, replaced its boring whirlwinds design with the two forms laid on the massive white fur mattress further into the room.

The Lady gracefully walked toward where the younger two inus were occupying and sat down on Sesshoumaru's right, the same side the taiyoukai did not busy himself with Inuyasha. She glanced from where his right hand rested limply on the mattress to the red color was soaking his shoulder, she frowned, "That was a pleasant gift he left you with. Don't you think so, Sesshoumaru?"

One eye of the younger taiyoukai twitched as he kept his glare focused on his mother. Though, he said nothing about her newest remark.

She sighed dramatically at his silent. "You may be your father's son but you have none of his charming!" She announced accusingly. "Now I have no doubt where it went when I looked at this little one." She flicked a look on the younger of the two male inus and the corner of her lips slightly moved up at the way Sesshoumaru's hold on the young hanyou tightened almost to breaking point as his eyes followed her line of vision.

"Your time is running out, Sesshoumaru." Her eyes suddenly locked with him and they hold each other's gazes in dead silent quite some time for the information to be absorbed into the taiyoukai. Though, he did not appear to even acknowledge what she just said.

* * *

_"WHY?!" The blood red eyes hanyou-turned-youkai roared at his sole opponent as the two swords in his hands once again sang in sync, black crescent shape Meidou Zangetsuha materialized at one swing of Tenseiga and shot toward Sesshoumaru with a speed of none human eyes could see as he sprinted in the air and brought Tetsusaiga down, released another earth shattering Kaze no kizu._

_None of the attacks ever nicked the taiyoukai as his agile and demonic speed were put on play, left with only his afterimages as he dodged every black blades and jumped away from the path of wind scars from both his front and above. His eyes flashed red and golden between one blink and the next as the copper scent in the air got thicker as time passed. He fully acknowledged his control was slipping away. Something inside him was shifting, no, was trying to break free. And his rational mind screamed at him to not let that happen._

_Sesshoumaru jumped higher in the air and sent an electric green light attack at Inuyasha with Bakusaiga, forced the younger one to jump away to avoid getting shed into pieces._

_Swords pointed at each other again as Sesshoumaru's black boots touched the ground soundlessly with his grace intact as usual, even his armor half shattered or his right shoulder was still punctured by two large pieces of diamond spears._

_For a long silent neither made any move to attack each other. They stood facing their opponent, swords in hands. Sesshoumaru, albeit in a better state than his brother, at that moment he knew two things._

_First, Inuyasha was bleeding, very badly. From the wounds of their fight, and by the pressure his demonic power was straining his half demon body into. Blood leaked out from his ears, his own claws, his toes, even from his crimson eyes, stained his one smooth tanned face in an ironic way that made Inuyasha looked every bit like a full blood demon. The demon could not tell from this one, because there was something else mixed with what blood poured out from his eyes, and he ignored his acknowledgement of what that salty scent exactly was. All that kept the younger of the two standing and fighting by now, purely because of his demon blood, the one with only survival instincts, and that was really a question needed an answer, for what kind of survival instinct was this by forcing himself at his own limit and died in the process? Yes, there was not enough blood to support the hanyou's life ran inside his body by now._

_The hanyou would die by his own brother's hand or because of his own demonic overwhelmed his everything, whichever came first._

_Second, the next time their swords collided, it would be the end._

_Something deep in the back of the taiyoukai's mind was trying to tell him something. The one thing very important that he forgot, which he shouldn't, but he did. And he was turning his mind upside down to find out what did he miss._

_A slight movement from Inuyasha forced him to focus back to the hanyou. Inuyasha's left hand, which was holding Tenseiga ever since he transformed, stretched out at his side and jammed the sword to the ground._

_The taiyoukai's instinct kicked in as he tensed up and heightened his guard._

_"Why?" The hanyou asked softly in his own voice, raw and dried by the blood choked in his throat. Blood seeped out from the corner of his lips as crimson eyes locked with surprised golden, who did not expect to have another same word threw at him. Inuyasha raised his left hand, placed it on the notch edge near the fur separated the hilt and its blade, his bang covered the obvious glowing red eyes, "Why…"_

_Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes, thought this was just another nonsense of the soulless hanyou-turned-youkai. Nothing prepared himself for what came at him next._

_Inuyasha's left palm ran itself along the edge of Tetsusaiga at high speed, coated the blade completely in his own crimson liquid as the fang shined in a bright red color with the shape of Kongouseiki, he leaped high in the air for momentum, looked at Sesshoumaru through crimson filled vision and brought the fang down… _

_… together with countless red diamond spears aimed at the waiting taiyoukai._

* * *

Her two elegant talons pierced through his blood leaking right shoulder and went as deep as she could. He gritted his teeth, showed his fangs and choked back any sound that threatened to come out. His left hand till holding the hanyou tightened, his mokomoko wrapped around the pup, blocking his downy ears and his nose slightly, enough for the young one to breath but not enough to let him notice the heavy scent of blood in the air surrounded them.

Her face had lost the earlier playfulness, now wore a deep concentration as her eyes focused on her two fingers lodged deep inside her only son's shoulder. She could feel her poison slowly seeped out, covered the outline of the wounded organ from inside, flowing alongside his blood stream, finding the very source of his own poison hid somewhere inside his body.

His eyes closed, one single brow would sometimes twitched when her poison unavoidably nicked one of his sensitive nerves.

"Gather your youki in one place, Sesshoumaru. It's everywhere like you never keep your toys neatly." She said in a motherly tone reprimanded her son.

She heard his low growl directed at her, causing the corner of her mouth unnoticeable twitched, but he did as she told him to. His youki gathered to the ending point of her poison strings, which now was located near his heart. Together the two youki flowed in sync as she directed both hers and his poison toward his heart, where they cocooned it in a thin layer of green light. Then the two entwined strings moved up, curled themselves around his main pulse. One of her poison string moved away from their course toward the main place of the problem, got closer to his injured area, where the blood red tendons spread about his punctured wounds like tree roots both from the surface and nearly pierced through his bone on the inside.

Unexpectedly her unoccupied hand came up to his cheek as she bended down, her lips brushed against his cheek and, "I love you." Whispered in his ear.

Before his brain could fully function after that critical hit deal directly at his mind by her, the duo poison of his and her surged forward, hit the root-like tendons dead on, their poison slowly ate up the red by their joined light green color. However, the remaining of red root forced themselves deeper into his body. As if had a mind of its own, the tiny red diamond spear in the deepest place of his shoulder pulsed, red tendons grew out from it at high speed, fully pierced through his bone, the newly conjured red root wrapped itself around the new broken area. His eyes opened in deep crimson color at the same time his mouth gasped in silent scream.

Her eyes widened at the unexpected turn of event. Her string lunged at the red crystal spear, the other string which was till in contact with his pulse extended itself and flowed over to its twin, both green strings flowed around, covered the whole crystal and constricted.

Her eyes narrowed as she focused solely on the cursed object. Suddenly the meidouseiki pulsed and a flash went through her being like an electric shock.

_Blood red eyes bath in a pool of blood._

_One white figure stood on four in the dark howled in pain._

_A red orb above it stored a black being with long scale body, which was curling around a certain object._

Something in her snapped as she let out a snarl, her eyes bled red, as her talons grew longer, her poison strings pulsed together with added youki flared bright green and snapped the red crystal into nothingness.

* * *

Red Kongousouha?

_Once again he was taken by surprised at this new enhanced technique of Tetsusaiga. The younger one had fused his blood with their father's fang's youki, feeding more power to the already indestructive Kougousouha, which was pouring down on him._

_And there was no point in dodging but countered it._

_His youki released and surrounded him in a pink orb, shielded him from the numerous deadly flying objects courtesy to Inuyasha's demon blood. He jumped up through the raging rain of red crystalized spears, Bakusaiga and Tetsusaiga clang at each other._

_Demonic pressure from Bakusaiga pierced at Inuyasha's already bloody fresh, but the hanyou paid no mind to what pain his body was feeling. Hatred, bitterness, loneliness, and deep sadness from the younger spoke through their blades and almost timidly brushed softly against the elder of the two in the deepest place of his heart…_

_… Causing blood urged out from the corner of Sesshoumaru's mouth._

"Inuyasha…"

_Crimson eyes blinked up, tilted his head slightly as if it was the first time he heard his name being called. The corner of his mouth slightly twitched as he leaped up, his bloody claws raised. "Hijin Kessou!"_

_The taiyoukai deflected all the blood blades threw at him, but one._

_The only one that came down at the same time with Tetsusaiga, by countered the fang, that one red blade had hit directly on where the two silver crystals till stayed silently in his shoulder, shattered them into pieces, dyed the smaller part that remained inside his body in a deep crimson color as red tendons grew from it, rooted itself securely where it stayed._

_This time blood coughed out from the elder's mouth by the unexpected attack as he kept a firm hold on Bakusaiga, till crossed blade with Tetsusaiga as their owners locked gazes with each other._

_A low laugh bubbled from Inuyasha's throat turned into a small cough of blood. "Remember this Sesshoumaru…" He smiled at the elder, "You are alive because a part of me is human."_

_Suddenly Tetsusaiga's youki along with the hanyou's dispatched as Bakusaiga's youki flared up, broke through Tetsusaiga weakened barrier, landed a full force hit on the hanyou's body, who now reduced to a black hair slender youth, sending him flew away backward._

_The taiyoukai got one moment to recover from his panic as his brain suddenly remember what day was today, and jumped after the falling young one, Bakusaiga was forgotten somewhere on the ground in his hassle as he caught the human in his arms and they landed on his back, cushioned by his mokomoko._

_"Inuyasha!" He called the half lid eyes human, "Inuyasha!"_

_Dull red eyes looked unseen to where his dimmed vision was providing as a soft murmur left his lips "Why didn't you come for me…"_

_The last of red left at the same time his eyes fully shut._

_"INU-!" Before the elder could finish call out his brother's name, blood forced its way out of his mouth as he too, fell prey to the embrace of darkness, till holding the hanyou-turned-human in his arms until the next time he was awaken by a stir from the nightmare that was vague the younger's unconsciousness._

* * *

_"And for once in my life to have you treat me like a brother…"_

_The human whispered as his eyes smiled sadly up at the taiyoukai. Each of his word landed every cut through his aching heart at the sight of his broken sibling. Without thinking he raised his left hand, dug his claws into his barely healing palm, force new river of blood oozed out and let them flowed into the younger through his numerous deeper-than-safe cuts._

_Without aware of what the elder one was doing, the younger continued in a soft voice that he could let out in his near dead state, "… than a filthy half-breed…"_

_The taiyoukai hold on to the once again unconscious human as if his life depended on it. "Inuyasha…" He whispered into the darkness._

_For once, just once, he wanted to do it._

_He wanted to let it go._

"Inuyasha…"

_That was the first one time he called the name of his younger brother with the kind of feeling he had always denied._ "My Inuyasha…"

My Inuyasha…

* * *

_Her howl reached his ears first then her demonic aura. He knew what choice he had in this situation. Mokomoko wrapped the younger to him securely as he focus his aura, morphed them both into an orb of light as he took them both to the direction of her sky palace._

My Inuyasha…

… I won't let you die.

* * *

**To be continued...**

* * *

**Author's Rant**

Dear hell, I actually finished this chapter! *looked in awe*

Reviews are welcomed because if you don't say it I won't know if you like it or hate it.

Thank you for reading.


	8. Kiss and Tongue

**Disclaimer**

Inuyasha (c) Rumiko Takahashi

* * *

**Author's Note**

I've been burying my ears in romantic-music-in-my-oppinion lately. So, with a heart full of sappy I present before you the newest chapter of this story.

Another note will be put at the end of this chapter for further ranting if anyone felt like having a bit of talking.

* * *

**Japanese usage explanation**

_Meidouseki_ inuyasha -dot- wikia -dot- com / wiki / Meidō_Stone

_Tenseiga_ inuyasha -dot- wikia -dot- com / wiki / Tenseiga

_Kotodama no nenju_ inuyasha -dot- wikia -dot- com / wiki / Beads_of_Subjugation

* * *

**Warning (in this chapter)**

Mainly Inucest, romance, sappy, a bit of angsty drama but I don't think it's big enough to make any fuss about.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

* * *

It was the third morning since the day of the new moon.

First thing Inuyasha was aware of when he slowly came back to the world of wakefulness was he felt really nice. Correction, his ear felt really nice. Like it was trapped between something cold and soft and the sensation was indescribable, but the strange thing was, the feeling only stayed in one ear. He flicked the other one back and forth to test the air. Yes, both sides felt completely different from each other, why?

His brows furrowed in wonder, but his eyes stayed shut as he was savoring the pleasant darkness behind his lids. And, that good feeling on his ear was calling drowsiness back to claim him again. He felt like to do just that.

With a content sigh he snuggled closer to whatever warmly-thingy it was that wrapped around him like a blanket. It felt somewhat nostalgic…

He remembered when he was little, with his mother, she would hold him every night, sang him a lullaby, pet his ears… And the unpleasant feeling of being called _'hanyou'_ by everyone lived in the castle with them was all forgotten. He felt peacefulness in her arms and it calmed his little soul whenever she was there for him.

But now he was cocooned in, this kind of warmness was somewhat familiar as it was foreign to him. He knew yet he couldn't bring forth the memory of what it was. His hand reached out, but he couldn't tell what he was searching for. He dug deeper into his memory…

_He was being lifted up by large hands. No… it was not that this person had large hands, nor big features… It was him, the one that was small. His chubby legs, his small claw hands, his everything was in the shape of a younger himself. And he was laughing at the person till holding him in the air. He knew that hands, those elegant fingers, and unmistakable magenta double stripes… And the hands brought him closer to the person… that was…_

* * *

Before he could see the owner of that face, he was drawn into a bottomless abyss.

He was floating in front of a pure white four legs being.

_Sesshoumaru?..._ His mind questioned. _No… who are you…_

Blazing crimson eyes tore into his soul. Its head leaned in closer and snuggled against his side. He felt his hand lifted up and stroked the soft long fur.

The purring sound of it soothed him in a strange way. His eyes followed the movement of his hand on the being's forehead… _Red crescent moon?_

Suddenly it snapped its head away from him and looked up into the everlasting darkness above them, its jaw opened and a raging howl hit his ears…

* * *

And his head was hit by wave after wave of a mother fucking headache that went far too long for his liking as he pushed himself deeper into whatever blanketing him, no longer cared about anything else as his hands came up to hold his head, hoping beyond hope it would help the pain go away.

"Inuyasha?" He heard a familiar voice whispered his name in almost urgent as he tried to open his eyes.

But a blinding light hit his vision and he shut everything up before he could caught the sight of anything.

"Inuyasha!" He heard his name was called again, this time he felt something very soft moved up over his head and the weight of something he recognized as hands that had been warped around him ever since he could remember pulled him even deeper into its embrace if that was even possible by now.

"Inuyasha." Whispered his name against his temple softly, and dared he presumed… _lovingly?_

Inuyasha inhaled a deep breath, took in the familiar scent of his brother and found his voice, "Who the fuck are you and where is Sesshoumaru?"

His heart almost jumped out of his throat as something wet and soft brushed against his ear… and hot air blew right near it… and a chuckle next… then that voice came back in a slow murmured, "How do you want the Sesshoumaru that you inquired?"

"The one I've known for all my life!" Inuyasha snapped as he forced his eyes open once more, greatly thankful for whatever blinding light that was there earlier no longer in sight.

The next thing he knew was… he was surrounded… by that white fluffy thing Sesshoumaru always wrapped around his right shoulder and let one end of it loose on his back…

The next of the next thing was… _so close!_ They were _so close!_ Their faces ware _so close!_ They were practically breathing in the others' air! And _THAT_ was the reason his blood suddenly decided to run north!

The hanyou's eyes were so wide it was a miracle why they had not popped out of their sockets yet. And his mouth kept open then close, then open then close, as no word could even form to make any sound… at his current predicament.

Sesshoumaru looked all amused at the younger's reaction as a slight smirk formed in his lips. This was as he had expected but to see _that_ expression on the hanyou's face was priceless, and he would enjoy this same face for a long while more when the hanyou was ready to get up to face what he was storing for him. Such matters had been delayed far too long for his liking, but no longer now.

And he wondered if the hanyou even aware of how his lips were very tempting right now? The frantic movement, flashing his fangs in one moment and the next, and let's not forget about the little tongue that was raised by pirate hiding behind those adorable little fangs. Most of all, there was no living soul here to play witness or stop him from stealing a kiss, right? Right.

But he would not get any further than a soft touch of their lips, for now. And so be it.

He brushed his lips against Inuyasha's once, and again, and again. It was just a simple repeatedly touch, his eyes bore into the younger's all the time. There was no respond from the hanyou's part. In fact Inuyasha had been frozen the moment he felt Sesshoumaru's lips on his. The taiyoukai knew the younger needed time to understand what was going on, and he gladly waited, that would also mean he had longer time to savor the feeling of this contact between them. His hand never ceased its caress on the hanyou's ear either.

After what seemed like forever to Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha's eyes slowly fell, his hands moved up, hesitantly gripped the front of Sesshoumaru's white haori. And when Sesshoumaru's lips touched his again.

He leaned up, adding more pressure into the touch.

And they stayed that way for quite some time.

Until Sesshoumaru leaned down, his hand that caressed one downy ear now supported the back of the hanyou's head, then he slightly pulled back, not so far away and close enough with one whispered _"Inuyasha",_ their lips was till softly brushing against each other.

Sesshoumaru's other hand came up and its thump ran slowly on Inuyasha's cheek.

When the hanyou reopened his eyes, confusion was written all over his head. He wanted to say something. But there was so many questions he didn't even know how to start. He shut his eyes and buried his head in Sesshoumaru's chest as his body shook in denial. "No… No…" He whimpered, "I… Kagome… I…"

"You love her." Sesshoumaru said in his stead, rolled them over so he laid on his back with Inuyasha's shaking form atop. "And you still love her."

"But I… we… I just…" Inuyasha could no longer form any word as his body kept trembling like he was out all alone in winter with nothing but a thin piece of cloth to cover himself.

"You did not betray her if that is what you are convincing yourself."

"I did."

"When?"

"Just now."

"What make you think so?"

"Because we… just… k… k… ki…" Inuyasha stuttered, his face suddenly flamed up with a shade of red that put his fire rat robe in shame.

"Because we just what?" Sesshoumaru mercilessly prompted in amusement, "You can't fix anything if you can't even say what's wrong with it."

"You know what it is!" Inuyasha yelled in defense, "And I know it was what's wrong!"

"Do tell what's wrong with it, _my dear Inuyasha_." Sesshoumaru drawled, at the same time he pulled Inuyasha up so that his tongue could come out and play with the outline of Inuyasha ear.

An unwanted purr escaped the hanyou's throat at the sensation that was assaulting his ear as he stumbled for word. "Back then when I went away from Kagome and the rest to meet Kikyo, she did not seem to be herself when I was back… She often sat me…" Inuyasha mumbled, saddened by the mention of the modern miko. He never thought one day he would miss her _osuwari _this much, just to have the reassurance that she was really there with them.

He missed the way Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed as the miko's name was once again stepped in between them, together with seeing how those downy ears fell flat against the hanyou's skull.

Elegant fingers brushed against the kotodama no nenju, "Because she subjugated you, so you thought you had wrong her feeling?"

"Not all the time." Inuyasha looked up at his brother. "Remember when Tetsusaiga was not with me?" He turned away from Sesshoumaru's intense gaze, once again missed another flash of something in the taiyoukai's narrowed eyes. "If she hadn't done it I may kill all of them… like I did with the bandits…" His forehead dropped on Sesshoumaru's chest as self-disgust started consuming him. They killed, but unnecessary killing was just an act of a mindless low-life.

"I will not say this to make you feel better, Inuyasha." A finger touched the hanyou's chin and angled his head up to look at his elder brother, "I was there." The same finger trailed up to Inuyasha's cheek, ran alongside the invisible purple demon marking on the hanyou's face, "And Tenseiga did not decided to grant any of those vermin a second chance to live."

"I don't feel any better at all." Inuyasha let out a small smile, "I killed them, and that was all."

"Was it your humanity speaking?" To Inuyasha's surprise, the question was asked with a smirking Sesshoumaru.

"Yea." The reply was given without hesitation.

The smirk changed. It was just the way his lips slightly twitched to rearrange the way it appeared, and he was _smiling_ down at the younger, "I see."

The hanyou could not do anything else at that smile, but returned one of his own, timidly.

They stayed like that until both of them fell asleep again. Sesshoumaru's hand couldn't unglue itself from one hanyou's ear and Inuyasha didn't protest about it.

.

.

.

Outside their spacious resting place fading the current Lady of the West's form, looked up at the sky, a rarest smile adorned her lips as her last present disappeared into thin air. She could leave them on their own accord for a while now. There was some matters she felt the need to look into.

They had eternity of time, but something was unsettling. And for the first time in many centuries, she felt time was turning its back on them, once again.

* * *

Sesshoumaru woke up by a soft touch on his left arm, then another… then he felt a certain someone's finger was trailing his wrist, mindful of his claw so he wouldn't accidently nick the taiyoukai's hand. A soft mumble "It was not here anymore…" reached his ears followed by a long melancholy sigh.

"What was not here?" The taiyoukai asked softly, keeping his eyes close till.

"Your markings…" Inuyasha whispered. "Even it grew back… it's not the same…"

"Why would you want the same one?" Sesshoumaru let the hanyou keep his left arm, which seemed to have Inuyasha's interest at the moment, and unwrapped his right arm around the pup's mid-section to run it through the younger's silver tress, noted to himself some works needed to be done, later, _in the hot spring_. For now, his right hand found a downy ear and contented in rubbing that certain appendage again.

"Because I cut it off…" Inuyasha turned his eyes up in time Sesshoumaru opened his eyes to look down at the younger one. "Just looking at this reminded me of what I—"

Sesshoumaru's lips found the hanyou's, silent what was about to speak out, but he drew back, against his desire, as soon as he deemed Inuyasha would not try to speak anything about it anymore. "My left arm or yours and the girl's life. What would you choose?"

"Maybe I could do something else, so I didn't have to…" Inuyasha started again. He never let anyone know about his mixed feelings regarded this one thing that had happened between the two of them.

"I did not give you the choice to do anything else, Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at his statement. "Even if you had another chance to be in the same situation, I would force you into doing it again."

"Why?" Inuyasha gripped the front of Sesshoumaru's haori. His voice was thick with a lump in his throat.

"I had enough anger and hatred in me back then to really end your life, had you not done anything." Sesshoumaru looked unseen at the midday light invaded the chamber they were in.

"Because I am a _dirty hanyou_ that dared to swing _your_ father's sword?" Came the bitter question.

"That and many thing else." The taiyoukai's left hand, which was now forgotten by Inuyasha, pulled the younger of the two back into the elder one's embrace, his right hand moved away from one downy ear to draw his head up under Sesshoumaru's chin, "But you know what," Sesshoumaru spoke again, "It was a good thing."

Inuyasha shook his head, unable to say anything. His eyes shut out the world surrounded them. He was confusing of this talking. He was confusing of the Sesshoumaru that was holding him. He was confusing of everything that happened now.

"I had time to cool down some and think." The older of the two continued, "Then when I was hit by your first Kaze no kizu…" Hesitation filled within the taiyoukai, for the first time he was unsure if he would finish this or not. Every time when they mentioned about _Rin_, something would happen inside the hanyou… then Inuyasha would wake up and forgot everything when he regained consciousness. But the hanyou had stiffened at the mention of the second time he had wounded his brother, breath caught in his throat and he swallowed hard. And the taiyoukai knew he had given no choice in this, anymore. "That was when Rin found me recovering in a forest near her village."

Inuyasha's eyes snapped open and his index finger unconsciously twitched.

Aware of Inuyasha's newest reaction, the taiyoukai's curiosity hit him and he decided to test the water, with more caution this time. "She tried to get me eat human's food." Sesshoumaru spoke slowly, followed the hanyou's expression with his intense gaze, "Even after I snapped at her." A snort was heard from the hanyou and the taiyoukai did not know why he felt a bit relief at that. "Several days later she came, tried to get me eat human's food again." No reaction from the hanyou, "She got beaten up pretty bad when I saw her."

Inuyasha's ears peaked up, showed his interest, but he did not say anything.

"I was just curious, so I asked her why." Sesshoumaru continued, till had his eyes on the younger's hidden face, "She did not answer. But she smiled."

Sesshoumaru may not realized it, but the fondness in his voice when he revealed his past encounter with the little human girl did not went unnoticed to the hanyou. A small pang hit the hanyou's heart and he did not want to voice the reason behind this hurt feeling, it so childish for him to feel this way, but he could not help it.

Unaware of what happened inside the hanyou, Sesshoumaru let memories wash over him as that same smile flashed in his mind eyes, "When I fully recovered, Jaken and Ah-Un found me. Before you asked it, Rin named my two head dragon Ah-Un." One bad sign had showed up when the downy ears started falling down, though the taiyoukai could not point out why. But his right hand, which was nearest to one puppy ear had moved up to caress it once more, he felt like he could never have enough of this soft appendage.

"When I was about to leave, I smelt her blood carried by the wind. And I found her dead, on her way running to the forest." Sesshoumaru was taken aback as Inuyasha spoke up for the first time since he began his tale, but what made his blood ran cold was the hanyou's voice, for the familiarity of it with the voice that had spoken to him when they stood facing against each other, swords drew, on the day of the new moon.

"You brought her back to life using Tenseiga. Then she followed you, and you let her, because it's her own choice." Inuyasha braced himself on his hands, his shadow loomed over the taiyoukai and he looked down at his brother, purple jagged stripes slowly visible on the side of his cheeks, red eyes slowly opened.

The younger of the two smirked down at the surprise look on the taiyoukai's face and he lower his head, his lips came near one pointy ear and whispered in his deep baritone voice, "I don't care what you are playing at, Sesshoumaru," his tongue darted out, trailed the outline of that same ear, "But my pitiful little heart had shut you out…", Inuyasha drew back and crimson eyes looked piercingly at widened golden ones of the taiyoukai's, "… A hundred years ago."

"Why don't you do us a favor by…" The hanyou-turned-youkai drawled, "… Killing me now or letting me out of this game."

Before Sesshoumaru could say a word, Inuyasha slumped into his brother's chest, unconscious took over him once again.

The taiyoukai was left embracing his sleeping brother, his eyes bled red as he was taken over by a sudden unknown rage. The need to run his hand through something living was so great he did not even realize his palm had turned bloody by how deep his claws dug in as he was trying to regain his self-control.

"You are falling deeper into this _game_, Inuyasha," Whispered a low voice in one puppy ear, "And this Sesshoumaru will never let you out."

* * *

"Do you wish to return to your companions, Inuyasha?" The suddenness of that question hit the younger by surprise. He mostly forgot about them until his brother brought up!

"They would be worry sick by now…" Inuyasha mumbled. "Or maybe think I've already died somewhere."

"Hoh?" The elder feigned surprise, "Their trust in you was that high?"

"Well!" He felt like he was offended! "It's not a normal day to see a fat and strong hanyou walking around! Thank you very much!"

"You mean a pup barking around?" Sesshooumaru asked in a bored tone.

"You senile! I am a matured one!" Inuyasha snapped, sat up abruptly so he was now straddling his brother, but his mind was far from acknowledge what kind of position they were in.

However, that was what the elder of the two was focusing his attention on.

His line of vision scanned from the way those little toes curled together, then these knees that were on his sides, trapped his lower abdomen in between, and two claw fists that were gripping the front of his haori… up to the hanyou's reddened cheeks, down to his slightly pouty lips, and smaller fangs than his was visible from the corner of said sinful flesh… and the most delicious thing the taiyoukai had been trying in vain to deny his gaze was that exposed neck of the young one. His mind silently cursed the fire rat robe for the accursed thing had been hiding this sight from him for eternity since the last time he had a look at it, at the same time thanked it for hiding it from any other vermin's eyes. A hanyou Inuyasha may be, but nothing could deny his status in both human and youkai's society. And Sesshoumaru would be damned before he let the hanyou be subjected to a nonsense power hungry affair.

He was brought back from his muse by the young one voice calling his name. Obviously he'd been ignoring what Inuyasha was blabbering about. His eyes blinked once. "Yes, Inuyasha."

The hanyou's eyes narrowed down at the poker face taiyoukai. "What were you thinking about just now?"

The elder blinked again. Was the hanyou just demanding him?

"Sesshoumaru!" An irritated Inuyasha called again, leaned his face closer to gawk at the taiyoukai's seemingly expressionless face.

Unexpected hand of a certain taiyoukai cup the back of a certain hanyou and pulled said hanyou down, eliminated the short gap between their lips.

Inuyasha blinked rapidly, trying to get his mind caught up to what they were doing. The hanyou's hands on the taiyoukai's chest pushed him away, put some distance back separated them. "Why do you keep molesting me?!" The hanyou snapped as his face coloring at how the words came out and the way it sounded.

"I am not molesting you." Sesshoumaru deadpanned, his hand had been on the hanyou's head was dropped to his back by the hanyou's sudden movement. "Being with human that long should do you some good at telling apart what is molest and what is affection, hmm?"

"What kind of affection keeps k-k-k-k-kissing me?!" Inuyasha yelled, his face reddened as time passed.

A very suspicious rumble sound from the taiyoukai's chest got the young hanyou attention as his eyes narrowed at the slightly twitching lips of his brother. However, that had come and gone in just an instant and the taiyoukai's face did not show anything that announced what he almost let out a moment ago.

"It's not funny." Inuyasha said sulkily. His eyes hidden by his bang as he turned his head away, "Why do you keep playing with me this way…" His puppy ears disappeared into his thick silver tress.

"Why do you keep insisting that I am playing with you?" The taiyoukai narrowed his eyes at the sight of the flattened downy ears and the miserable hidden face of his younger sibling.

"I can't remember there was any time you are treating me this way before." The hanyou said bitterly. "You always tried to kill me, or make my life hell at any chance you could."

Glassy eyes looked up at the narrowed golden orbs, "When are you going to toss me away now that I almost feel comfortable around you?" The hanyou tilted his head with a sad smile on his lips as he waited expectantly for what he thought was about to come.

The impact came, however, it was not the same kind of impact with what the hanyou had prepared for. He was not thrown across the room or crushed against the wall, but a warm solid chest, the same place he had been stationed at every time he opened his eyes, by those same hands which had countless times brought him physical pain and mental anguish, by the same brother who had wanted him dead ever since his birth. What did Sesshoumaru want with him this time? "Please…" He buried his face in the hollow of Sesshoumaru's neck as his plead came out in a soft whimper, "I can't… take it anymore…"

In reply the taiyoukai's embrace on him tightened to the point of depriving him of air. One elegant claw hand ran through his hair in the back of his head. "Then don't take it." He heard Sesshoumaru said, "Try and push me away." Softly whispered against one of his puppy ear.

Sesshoumaru's hold on the hanyou never loosened despite what he said, if not tightened the longer the hanyou took to proceed what was offered to him.

"Let me go so I can push you away." Came the hanyou's voice.

"No."

"You told me to." Came the hanyou's voice again.

"I told you try it."

"I can't even move my hand."

"That is not my concern."

"You are so unfair."

"Tell me at what point of your life was fair?"

A long pause filled the air signalized the taiyoukai's winning score at their newest verbal fight.

"… My neck hurts…" Came a somewhat sulkily hanyou's voice.

"That's what happen if you keep turning it like a bird."

"Because your damn hand was grabbing my head!" Inuyasha snapped, to prove his point he wiggled his head back and forth in the possible area between his brother's neck and shoulder.

"Be still and behave." Sesshoumaru warned the squirming hanyou as he placed his hand more firmly at the back of the hanyou's head, put a stop to his frantic movement.

"I swear you enjoy seeing me acting like a fucking damsel in distress." Inuyasha mumbled against the pale skin of the taiyoukai's neck. An unknown urge to do something to that exposed area raised inside the young hanyou, but he could not figure out what he wanted to do with it, so it was easy for him to brush off as a curious something because of their close intimacy.

"Do you need my confirmation regarding this one?" Inquired an amused taiyoukai, who was blinking down at the snowy head with twitching puppy ears nestled under his chin.

"No, thank you." Inuyasha turned his head up and tucked his tongue out at his brother.

Sesshoumaru blinked again at the childish gesture, his gaze zoomed in at the pink appendage that was unexpectedly offered to him by a pouty lips, puffy cheeks hanyou in his arms. Should he teach the pup what better thing he could do with it?

"Don't stress your tongue if you are not intent to use it." Was what the taiyoukai decided to say in the matter.

At this the hanyou licked his lips and retreated his tongue, briefly wondering why it tasted like Sesshoumaru' scent… as if he'd licked his brother… the thought flashed a vision of a certain hanyou licked a certain taiyoukai's ear in the front of the hanyou's eyes. Inuyasha gasped as his face turned deep red, this time the color even spread down to his neck and to the silk covered skin somewhere lower to his chest.

Sesshoumaru's mistaken the younger's reaction for the sheer embarrassment of the hanyou about what it was, "Surely you and the girl had done it more than enough to not feel bashful by now?" The taiyoukai narrowed his eyes at the thought.

"Wha? W-w-w-w-what are you… you… uhh…" Inuyasha was trying to focus on what his brother was implying by his lastest remark, "No! I did not… do… anything to Kagome… with my… _tongue…_" The hanyou voice went from loud to nearly quiet at the end of his admission, Sesshoumaru would miss the last word if his hearing was the same as any lower youkai.

He did not want to admit where this cunningness of his came from, nor he wanted to admit that he was cunning now. He would deal with his mother later if the bitch was stalking them. Now, he had something more urgent at hand that needed to be clear.

"Inuyasha." The elder called, his voice devoid of any emotion and his face was the unreadable mask as usual.

The younger of the two, upon hearing his name was called in this way, unconsciously gulped. What? The bastard suddenly snapped out of it and decided to throw him away now?

"What did you intent to do to the girl with your tongue?"

The hanyou was bloody sure that his ears were playing trick on him now. "…Huh?"

* * *

Somewhere in another part of the palace, far away from where the inu siblings were occupying like the distance between heaven and hell, the Lady of the West was covering her lips with her long sleeve, her shoulders shook as she gracefully sat down on a nearby chair. "Oh my… my _dear son_ Sesshoumaru…"

Her shoulders would not stop shaking for a while now, and she could not move her sleeve away from her lips for a while too. At time like this she wished her mate had been still around. What would he do if he saw them the way they were now?

Her attention moved back to the stack of old scrolls she had been reading until now. Her eyes narrowed as her gaze fell on the shining object in the middle of the table, the _Meidouseki_.

* * *

"What?" Inuyasha asked, till convinced that his ears suddenly decided its usage was expired. Though, his brows had disappeared into somewhere above his forehead.

Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at the younger's expression, "I will not repeat myself."

"I swear I heard you asked me if I had… l-licked Kagome with my—" The hanyou snapped his mouth shut at his slip. His face went a permanent shade of red and he turned his head away from the taiyoukai's observing eyes.

"You did?" The question was asked even though the answer was clear as day to the elder of the two.

"Of course not!" Inuyasha snapped his head back to look defiantly at his brother, "Why do I feel like you are harassing me!?"

"No." Sesshoumaru blinked pleasantly at the hanyou and he could not help a smirk reappeared at his lips, "I merely wanted to know if what you were thinking and what I was assuming…"

The taiyoukai gentle flipped them so he was now towering over an abashed Inuyasha, his head descended so their lips were mere inch away from each other's, he could tell the anxiousness in his younger sibling by the way his breath was caught in his throat but he did not seem to protest against what was about to come.

"… Are the same."

Identical golden eyes locked together, one with unsure and hesitation, one with hidden desires and determination.

_"Good thing they are not."_

The air between them was forced away as Sesshoumaru's lips touched Inuyasha's, his tongue slipped in between the unresisting soft flesh, ultimately found its _innocent_ target and claimed his prize.

* * *

**To be continued...**

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**Author's Rant**

To be honest, I hate this new filter option of the site. It was not easy to find my wanting-to-read-pairing fanfictions now with this new feature. I would 80% of the time bum into a story with OC(s) main character (aka. mary sue). And I seriously don't feel like reading a fanfiction that rendered my favorite characters into something that practically screamed useless. I don't care if the writing was good (or not), it's just a down right disrespect to others that was just happened to like one or some fictional characters of the original mangaka, and the mangaka herself. And seriously, out of character was in most case bad enough, putting a damsel-in-distress in the mist was... ew.

Anyway, this chapter maybe put an official ending to the beginning of our favorite Inucest pairing and introduced the problems of this story. Next chapter was supposed to be given more details about what was left unsaid in the previous chapters, explanation about various things that may leave many readers of this story confusing about.

Yea, I know I said prologue 7 chapters ago but the real event had not even started yet...

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**Review reply**

To **ShiroSiAnjingPutih** thank you for your review, I will certainly continue this story and try not to be so mysterious about stuffs happened in it and making less confusion.

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Thank you for your patient and reading this story. Reviews are welcomed.

See you next time.

Asuka K.


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